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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23285887">I Sing For Pleasure, I've Sung For Pain</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdy_Badger_Mole/pseuds/Nerdy_Badger_Mole'>Nerdy_Badger_Mole</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Danger Coming Over [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Girls (TV), Good Girls (TV) RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence - Good Girls, Children, Drama &amp; Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Good Girls Season 3 Spoilers, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sequel, Smut, Spoilers, Swearing, Tags May Change, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:29:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>30,605</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23285887</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdy_Badger_Mole/pseuds/Nerdy_Badger_Mole</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hooty-hoo! Here we go again. A little teaser for the first chapter. Season 3 will be a challenge to write but ho boy do I have time.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rio (Good Girls)/Original Character(s), Rio (Good Girls)/Original Female Character(s), Rio (Good Girls)/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Danger Coming Over [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1496462</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>106</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>197</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Christopher looked in on his sleeping wife (soon to be anyway) and son and he felt glad.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They had decided to name their boy, their </span>
  <em>
    <span>son, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Cassian. By her logic, it continued the Latin theme that Marcus started and it was a Star Wars reference. Win-win situation. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had been sceptical at first but he took one look at his newborn son’s dark curls, wide brown eyes and a button nose and he thought </span>
  <em>
    <span>yes, this is Cassian. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He put a hand over his heart and his fingers ghosted over the bullet wound that punctured his lung and his joy turned to sadness and his sadness then turned to anger. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t know how else to tell her but his...</span>
  <em>
    <span>business </span>
  </em>
  <span>was still running and thriving. He had discreetly disposed of Agent Turner and a few other cops but he took no pleasure in it. He didn’t know how else he could support his family, Rhea and Marcus included. He didn’t claim to be a good man but he always tried to do what he needed for his family. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So when he heard that Beth, sweet, cunning, Elizabeth, was trying to find a way to print funny money then the rage clouded his vision and coursed through his veins. She fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>shot </span>
  </em>
  <span>him and almost tore him away from his children and the only woman he ever truly loved. But still, she beat on, a boat against the current, steaming ceaselessly forward to claim her riches. She hadn’t even come to check on his love, her friend in months. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He wanted to kill her. He wanted to rage against her until the smell of her blood was thick in the air. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But he looked at his fiancee, sleeping and still exhausted from tearing apart her own body to bring his son into the world and he knew he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do that to her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He knew logically that Beth wasn’t that bad. He had spoken to Rhea and Beth had been bending over backwards to help Rhea and Marcus while he was being nursed back to health. It was a little creepy and misguided but he understood where she was coming from. So he would go easy on her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He’d do it himself. Quickly and semi-painlessly. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He tried to lose himself in caring for the mother of his child and changing diapers, the latter muscle memory from when Marcus was a smaller little terror. He kept both of them fed and watered and provided ice packs for her to sit on when needed. She would always get embarrassed but he assured her that it was normal and that he’s sorry that she’s hurting.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You should be,” she teased, eyes tired but twinkling. “Means no sex for the foreseeable future.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Shut up,” he’d said affectionately. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When breastfeeding got hard, he was there. When the baby blues hit even harder, he was there. When the colic got way too hard, he was there. Because he loved her and he loved Cassian. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And when Beth darkened their door again, he was there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He had just gotten out of the shower and gotten dressed when he heard the doorbell go. For a second, he thought it was that dick, Ismael. They had actually met and they did have a lot in common and if he focused he might even like the guy but only a little and only on Tuesdays. But he was wrong.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Beth!” he heard her exclaim, voice strained. “What are you doing here?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I just wanted to check n you,” Beth chirped and Christopher rolled his eyes. Yeah, right.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s been a while,” she said, her voice tinged with a hint of accusation.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I know but you know how things get,” Beth said vaguely. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Right, right,” he heard her respond non-committally. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And who’s this little guy?” Beth cooed in a high voice. “When did you go into labour?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“A few weeks ago.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why didn’t you say anything?” Beth asked in concern. “That’s not something you wanna go through on your own, honey.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“She wasn’t on her own,” he said lowly, making his presence known and moving to stand protectively beside his family. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Beth’s eyes were wide and her jaw was clenched, her bottom lip quivering as she looked between them in fear and confusion. She seemed frozen, a doe in the headlights.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t let me interrupt,” he said smiling viciously. “Let’s all sit down and talk.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Cassian lay in his mother’s arms, asleep and blissfully unaware of the tension in the room, his mouth moving in a way that showed all that was on his mind was when he was going to be fed next. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They all sat in the living room, each of them silent and seemingly not knowing what to say but Christopher had a lot to say. Beth kept her eyes studiously on the floor.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you want, Elizabeth?” he said sighing. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Beth looked up guiltily but little did she know that she wasn’t surprising anyone at that moment. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Spit it out,” he said lowly. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I need a graphic designer,” Beth said suddenly, her eyes wide as though she didn’t expect herself to say anything at all.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Christopher regarded her stoically while she looked on at Beth in disappointment and hurt and anger. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Christopher reached a hand in his pocket and he tried and failed not to enjoy the look of terror that crossed Beth’s face. But he wasn’t reaching for his gun, he was reaching for some things that he had wanted Beth to see. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Lung,” he intoned gravely, setting one compressed bullet on the coffee table. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Spleen,” he continued, setting another one beside the first. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Shoulder,” he finished, setting down the last one. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Beth turned to her, plaintively, her mouth opening to form some sort of explanation, some sort of excuse, sensing her friendship and her life were both in danger.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I can explain-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You lied to me,” she hissed at Beth, trying not to wake Cassian. “You couldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that you almost murdered the man I love.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How could I?” Beth pled softly. “It would’ve crushed you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So you’d rather I’d think he left me with no explanation?” she asked incredulously. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And then you come here to ask her for help making funny money,” he finished.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” she asked in alarm. “What are you talking about? What is he talking about, Beth?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I found a way to, to print counterfeit money,” Beth admitted shamefaced. “Without, without him.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“After everything that happened?” she asked incredulously. “Dean almost died, Stan lost his job, and you almost went to jail.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I know, I know-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You once told me that he’s poison,” she started quietly, looking at Beth face hard. “You’re wrong, Beth. It’s you. You’re poison.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s not fair,” Beth said voice cracking. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You have a problem, Beth,” she said getting up and shaking her head. “I don’t know if you’re addicted or what but you need help.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait,” Beth started, but she was already walking away and shutting herself in the bedroom. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then it was just him and Beth. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re not done,” he said standing up and making Beth flinch. “But for now, I want you out.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Beth clenched her jaw and wiped her eyes, her resentment for him burning in her eyes but she saw the cold malice in his eyes and wisely left the house. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He was back. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And he would not be usurped.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Someone said that they were still mad at Rio for doing the devil's tango with Beth and I was like oh shit that was never addressed lmao. In my head, they talked about it but unfortunately, y'all don't have direct access to my last brain cell. That being said, plot. <br/>Shoutout to MissTricey for reminding me lol</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>“Baby,” he said quietly from the doorway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re still doing this,” she said flatly. It wasn’t a question. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I need to provide for you. For him. For Marcus, for Rhea…” he shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ve talked about this, Christopher,” she sighed. “You can’t do anything for us if </span>
  <em>
    <span>you’re in prison. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Or worse, dead.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing is gonna happen to me. Turner is dead,” he said reasonably. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Turner isn’t the one who shot you three times. If push comes to shove, and you know it will, then Beth will shove. She hates you,” she said, rocking Cassian when he started to fuss.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t you let me worry about that?” he sighed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because </span>
  <em>
    <span>I love you</span>
  </em>
  <span>, you dick,” she hissed. “You can’t expect me to not worry when you break the law for a living. That’s not even the worst part.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s the worst part?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I trust you. I trust you to be careful and cover your tracks by...whatever means necessary,” she swallowed. “But Beth… Beth is a selfish kind of altruistic. She refuses to do things on principle just so that she hang onto some semblance of morality.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” he asked in confusion. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth doesn’t know how to be...scary,” she shrugged. “She relies on blackmail and bribery rather than blood and intimidation. But she hasn’t gotten it into her head that it just shows how much she’s willing to pay. Think about Mary Pat.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mary Pat?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The rotten egg,” she said wryly. “She had like four kids so we couldn’t let you...take care of it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hummed in understanding, sitting down beside her on the bed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But Beth,” she sighed. “She doesn’t understand that you can’t do...</span>
  <em>
    <span>this </span>
  </em>
  <span>and not get your hands dirty.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Could you get your hands dirty?” he asked smirking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Man, you don’t understand the problem that Mary Pat was. I wanted to claw her fucking eyes out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And now,” she continued. “Now Beth needs a graphic designer. And I said no. So she’s gonna find someone else. Another Mary Pat.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She sounded so tired. So sad. So angry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s like you said. She’s poison. Why do you care?” he asked curiously.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked down at Cassian and sighed, shaking her head as she pursed her lips. “I shouldn’t have said that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I meant it, but I shouldn’t have said it. Not like that,” she said, shoulders slumping.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stayed quiet, sensing that she had more to say and leaving the room for her to say it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth does have a problem. She doesn’t have to do this. She could get a regular job or something. It would be hard but not as hard as being in prison,” she said. “I- I think that’s why she- she slept with you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tensed at that and looked away, guilt marring his features.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dean messages me sometimes. Asks me if Beth is with you because he’s convinced that she’s in love with you,” she said shaking her head.”But she’s not. She’s attracted to the danger you represent. But then shit got real and she hates that same danger because it wasn’t exciting anymore, it was danger and death.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t know what to say and he had the feeling that he probably shouldn’t say anything. He put an arm around her, trying to ground her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why did you do it?” she asked quietly. “Why did you sleep with her?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He sighed and shook his head, hating himself for doing what he did. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was missing you and she was there and willing, clearly angry with her husband,” he shrugged. “It was empty and meaningless. We were both using each other. Me trying to forget you, her trying to punish her husband. Both times.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He turned to face her and held her face in his hands, and she looked up at him tearfully. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I am so sorry, baby,” he said lowly, looking into her eyes. “I was being stupid and selfish and I made a bad call.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I agree,” she said smiling waterily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you,” he said. “Probably a lot more than the healthy amount but goddamn it, I do. You drive me crazy in the best ways.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Despite my better judgement,” she said teasingly. “I love you too. You sap.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re too good for me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hush.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re the best  thing about me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Seriously, stop it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The way you feel about Claire from the Bon Appetit test kitchen is how I feel about you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut up,” she laughed. “I love you almost as much as I love Claire. Which is a lot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> “Almost?” he asked, putting a hand to his chest in mock offence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She just leaned over and kissed him, and she decided that they were a team. No matter what, they got through it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Together.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Who knows what's going to happen next ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)<br/>Hope you enjoyed that! Let me know what you thought. Any thoughts and comments are appreciated in this time of self-isolation. Hope you're all okay</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Plot and stuff. Pls, enjoy :)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>The dial tone rang through her ear and she wondered if she was making a mistake. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello?” A voice tentatively chirped with faux cheer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She sighed. “Hi, Beth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“H-hi,” Beth chirped. “What’s up?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just,” she sighed. “I just wanted to apologise. To you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth remained silent on the other side, a little noise getting caught in her throat. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I did mean what I said,” she continued. “But I shouldn’t have said it like that. It’s just that...I’m concerned about you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t need to be,” Beth blurted. “This is only temporary and once I have what I need I’ll stop. Really.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth,” she said awkwardly. “Why don’t you just get a regular job?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I do have a regular job,” Beth chuckled with forced levity. “I work at the paper shop? The one that does the custom invites and whatnot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Huh,” she deadpanned. “And what? You do some “laundry” on the weekends.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth was silent for a while.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t judge you,” she conceded. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, you can’t,” Beth spat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t get to share a bed with </span>
  <em>
    <span>him </span>
  </em>
  <span>and come at me for doing this,” Beth hissed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not risking my life, Beth,” she said calmly. “And despite what you might feel, loving him isn’t a crime.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth scoffed. “You keep telling yourself that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth, I didn’t call you to fight,” she sighed. “I just wanted to apologise. And tell you to be careful.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why? Because of your boyfriend?” Beth said snidely. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No. Because of you,” she said calmly. “Don’t get another Mary Pat.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t if you’d help me,” Beth said petulantly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She chuckled. “I don’t do high-detail illustration. Besides you can’t afford me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth laughed despite herself and for a second it felt like the old times when they were still each other. But they were very different people now, for better or worse.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“One last thing, Beth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sometimes,” she started shakily. “Sometimes you need to hurt people.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What if I can’t?” Beth said in a small voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You have to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And she hung up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It shouldn’t have filled Christopher with so much amusement to beat a man bloody but it did. Sue him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher had his debts to pay, being out of commission having accumulated its interest ironically. Nothing he couldn’t handle but it was still a bitch and he was irritated. Which is why he had to have a little talk with some newly minted ex-con that was washing cash on his turf. The man was big but had more brawn than brains or courage, given how he was whimpering through the bandana stuffed in his mouth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher really should not have found that as funny as he did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Afraid we’ve got a problem,” he drawled sitting down in front of the terrified man.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, here’s the thing, man,” he continued. “If you wanna move your funny money through my guys, we’ve gotta get some stuff straight, yeah?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mm-hmm,” the man said as enthusiastically as he could through the gag.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mm-hmm!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, for starters, there’s a licensing fee,” he said casually. “But you know if that’s gonna be an issue for you we can just-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But the man cut him off with a startled muffled cry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No problem?” Christopher asked, knowing full well that whatever survival instinct existed in the man would override any pre-existing agreements the man had and the man nodded and hummed in confirmation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good,” Christopher smiled in feigned friendliness. “I was hoping you’d say that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The man slumped in relief and Christopher was glad that he hadn’t pissed himself like the last guy that they’d had to talk with. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now I need to know who your employer is,” he said softly. “Cause I don’t know you. And you don’t know me. I feel like I should know everybody that I work with, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The man nodded enthusiastically and muffled still he said, “I don’t know. It’s just a bunch of bitches. Just a bunch of bitches. I swear.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher moved to examine the funny money they had confiscated from the man and he ran his fingers over the bill, amazed at the quality. He held it up to the light and if he didn’t know any better he’d say it was real genuine money. But he did know better. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just a bunch of bitches, huh?</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you enjoyed that! I've kind of been in a funk/slump what with not being able to go outside so that's why this update took so long. Thank you for your patience :)</p><p>In other news, I know I said Sleeping On The Blacktop won't have a part 2 but I'm really toying with the idea of continuing that fic...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A little bit of a filler chapter.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher sat in his car in the driveway of his home, their home and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, deep in thought.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher was not angry that Beth was printing counterfeit money, he wasn’t even surprised. No, he knew that this shit was medieval and the benefits of shooting him were somewhat farreaching for Beth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That didn’t stop him from thinking that Beth was a treacherous bitch. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stepped into the house and was immediately greeted by the aroma of what he assumed was roasting chicken and the saffron rice that she knew he loved.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Welcome home, daddy,” he heard her cooing, knowing that she wasn’t talking to him. “Daddy’s home, oh yes he is.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He turned the corner to see her sitting on the floor with Cassian sitting in her lap, babbling happily as she kissed his nose. He moved to pick his son up and he held him close kissing the top of his head and basking in the new baby smell</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know,” he started, looking at her over Cassian’s head. “Ever since this little guy got here, you’ve lost interest in me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What can I say?” she smirked. “He’s cuter than you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Need I remind you that he routinely poops himself and spits up on you?” he laughed, bouncing Cassian gently.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mere technicalities,” she teased.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He huffed and looked and saw that his son was asleep against his chest, his shirt damp where the baby had started to drool.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I will never get over how much they need to sleep at first,” he laughed shaking his head going to put him down for his nap in his bassinette.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think I might assume similar lifestyle,” she chuckled, getting up and stretching. “Pushing a small person out of my lady parts was surprisingly exhausting.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No shit,” he said coming out of the bedroom smiling. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who would’ve thunk,” she laughed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He went to wrap his arms around her waist and he peppered her face with kisses, making her laugh and he wanted to live in that sound, in her smile. Her eyes were tired and he could see that she was probably due for a nap as well but he could feel her love and contentment and he was grateful. He kissed her deeply and relished the way she hummed against his lips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” he murmured, rubbing his nose against hers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“For what?” she sighed happily.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“For everything. For a family, for cooking me dinner, for being you,” he smiled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“God, when did you get so soft?” she said resting her head on his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hmm, we can get a little rough if you want,” he said grabbing her ass.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You always have to ruin the moment,” she huffed in amusement, pushing Christopher’s chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know you like it,” he smirked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She just hummed and took one of his hands in hers, playing with his fingers and stroking his knuckles and he saw that she noticed the bruised and broken skin there. Her smile wavered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I trust they deserved it,” she said, smiling bitterly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, I wanted to tell you something,” he said drawing his hand back. “Beth is printing money from the paper shop she works at.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm, so she finally found herself a graphic designer,” she said flatly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She’s washing more money than I ever gave her before.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So it’s good enough to pass all the checks,” she mused. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I gotta admit, it is </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>good paper,” he nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And you want to enlist her help through means of fear and intimidation, yes?” she continued.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” he shrugged, seeing no reason to lie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She hates you already. Why would you invite the person that wants a knife in your back to stand behind you?” she asked incredulously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She needs to make money and so do I,” he sighed. “Together we can do it faster.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth is...messy,” she sighed. “And she will most definitely steal from you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have a plan for if </span>
  <em>
    <span>and </span>
  </em>
  <span>when that happens,” he smirked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can’t you just...do this without her?” she pled. “Let her have her operation and make her pay a keep-on-living tax or something?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If I let her run around washing money on my turf then I gotta let everyone do that,” he shrugged. “Too much smoke.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you have to bring her on-side, I have to ask you to do one thing,” she sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He nodded and waited for her to continue.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t make it personal. Beth becoming emotional is Beth becoming dangerous. And for the love of God watch your back,” she sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Watch my back? Why do I feel like you’re not just talking about Beth?” he mused.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ve heard the phrase “no loyalty among thieves’. Beth might try and get some of your guys on her side,” she said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He laughed out loud at that and she raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t laugh!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, baby. It’s just that they won’t go over to Beth to be the mommy mob boss,” he explained.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why not?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, there’s the unfortunate sexism in the crime world, first of all,” he started and she huffed in amusement. “They also don’t know her and don’t trust her to come up with results. Shit, they’d go to you before her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you say so,” she said still somewhat unconvinced. “Also, hey! I could be a gang leader if I wanted.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m always watching my back anyway. You’re right. Ain’t no loyalty among thieves,” he huffed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m watching your back too,” she said seriously and he saw the glint in her eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re kinda terrifying, you know that?” he smirked, putting his arms around her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I learned from the best,” she smiled, leaning up towards him, brushing her lips against his.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good thing you’ve got my back,” he said lowly. “I do not want to piss you off.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No. No, you don’t,” she laughed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve got your back too,” he said seriously. “And Cassian.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Always,” they said in unison. And it was a promise. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And a threat.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you enjoyed that and please let me know what you thought :b<br/>If you got a Sleeping On The Blacktop notification, that was an oopsie on my part lol. I'll get to that later. I do have a chapter written tho<br/>As for this fic, Rio's development in the show and his development in this fic are very different. As such it's a little harder to write as I'm essentially writing a new character. So updates might be far and few In between. Your patience and support are appreciated and I love hearing from y'all in the comments.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>They make a new friend.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>While she did say that she had his back, she wasn’t sure why he needed her to watch his back at a custom print store.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She looked around her in confusion, absent-mindedly patting Cassian’s back from where he was snoozing, yet again, in the baby sling on her chest. The store was small with a rustic aesthetic, probably going for the cute, quaint cottage-core aesthetic. She saw a Mac desktop off to one side of the shop, a small Asian woman sitting behind it and putting down her Wacom pen when she saw them come in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be right with you!” she chirped and she scurried over. Her nametag read Lucy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Call it maternal instinct or whatever but Lucy was just adorable and she resisted the urge to pinch her cheeks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hi, there!” Lucy smiled. “Welcome to the Paper Porcupine. I like your tattoo.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She said the last part to Christopher, gesturing at the tattoo on his neck and Christopher smiled lopsidedly but she could see that he was observing the woman closely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, thank you,” he said, slightly disarmed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What does it mean?” Lucy prodded and she bit her bottom lip at the question, wondering how Christopher would explain.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, it’s sort of for this club that I’m in,” he said smoothly, nodding. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cool, super cool,” Lucy gushed before looking over at her arms that were cradling Cassian.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh! You have tattoos too!” she exclaimed softly, gesturing at her sleeves of Peonies. “What flowers are those?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Peonies,” she smiled. “My favourite flower.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do they mean?” Lucy asked, seemingly genuinely intrigued.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, they mean a few things. Luck, shyness, romance...happy marriage,” she said smirking at Christopher and he flushed slightly. “But if you look between the petals there are fairytale-like monsters I drew myself.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You draw?” Lucy asked smiling. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, among other things. I’m a graphic designer,” she nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, wow! Me too!” Lucy said excitedly and she suddenly understood why they were there. “I used to sling ink to pay for art school. Sling? Slung?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think it’s ‘slang’,” Christopher chuckled</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That is so cool,” she said smiling. “We should follow each other on Instagram.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you’re both artists, huh?” Christopher asked casually but she could see the calculating look in his eye.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I do all the design work here. Uh, custom orders, stuff like that,” Lucy nodded eagerly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Christopher said, eyebrows raised in fake surprise. “Wait, do you mean, like, if someone wanted something special printed, you would draw it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But you’d pick the paper and colours,” Lucy said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you’d draw it,” Christopher pressed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, and then we make an engraver’s plate and print it all on-site,” Lucy explained.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cool,” Christopher nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, uh, one-stop-shop,” Lucy said smiling. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She watched the interaction closely, clearly knowing that Christopher wanted something from Lucy but she couldn’t fathom why he would ask Lucy of all people.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know, that’s good, cause I’m, um, I’d like to get rid of the person I’m using now,” Christopher said casually.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ah, there it was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Lucy asked unaware of the double-entendre.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, not so reliable,” he said smiling wryly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, won’t happen on my watch,” Lucy said earnestly. “Just let me know if I can help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lucy, I think you can,” he said smiling widely and her heart skipped a beat like it did when they first met and she looked away. She could feel his questioning eyes on her but she was too embarrassed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Awesome,” Lucy gushed, smiling widely at both of them. “Let me just get your contact details.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t you give her your details, baby?” he said casually. “Artist to artist and whatnot. My phone’s broken anyway.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She knew damn well his phone wasn’t broken and he had two phones anyway but she gave Lucy her details anyway. He had a plan and who was she to throw a wrench in the works.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Great! It was great meeting you guys!” Lucy gushed. “You guys are such a cute couple. Oh, uh, your baby is even cuter.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He takes after me,” she said teasingly, nudging Christopher and turning to leave. “It was lovely meeting you too, Lucy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, Lucy,” Christopher said. “I’ll be seeing you real soon.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, so what was that about?” she asked once Cassian was in his car seat and they were settled. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know how Beth makes the cash now,” he shrugged. “I don’t need her no more.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But you don’t have the engraver’s plates,” she guessed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, your girl, Beth, is smart,” he smirked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t you want her to work for you anymore?” she pressed. “What did she do?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She ain’t delivering. She works in the store,” he sighed. “Something either happened to the plates or she’s hiding them from me to buy herself time to stock up on funny money. Either way, she needs to go.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re not worried that Lucy is gonna catch onto what you’re doing and rat you out?” she asked sceptically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not particularly,” he said plainly. “She looks smart.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I swear to God, if you hurt that adorable girl, I’m divorcing you,” she sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Still not married,” he laughed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine, I won’t marry you,” she said in annoyance, fighting a smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mmm, sure you won’t,” he laughed, starting the car and pulling out of their parking spot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wanna bet?” she challenged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why’d you start acting funny in the store?” he asked suddenly and she froze. Fuck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” she asked, being purposefully obtuse.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I mean, I was talking to our new friend, Lucy,” he smirked. “And you were looking away and shit. It was like when I first met you and you couldn’t look at me for more than 10 seconds at a time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You used to be scary and shit, what do you want from me?” she mumbled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m still scary and you know it,” he countered. “And you like it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whatever,” she grumbled, looking out of the window as they drove home.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Answer the question,” he pressed and she knew he wouldn’t let it go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yousmiledanditmademyheartfeelfunny,” she rushed out, covering her mouth slightly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” he smirked. “I didn’t catch that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I said that you’re such a dick.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Baby.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, my God,” she groaned. “Fine. I said, that you smiled and it made my heart feel funny.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Awww,” he said putting a hand to his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“God, I hate you,” she sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, you don’t,” he said smugly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was probably heartburn anyway,” she grumbled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ay,” he said putting a hand on her thigh as he drove and her breath hitched before he glanced at her heatedly. “You make my heart feel funny too.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re a sap,” she mumbled, looking away as her heart skipped several more beats. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It happened again didn’t it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Drive.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you enjoyed that! I know what you're thinking. Two consecutive updates?? Wonders shall never cease. Let me know what you think :b</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>plooott</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>He sat down while his men stood imposingly around him, all of them surrounding Lucy’s desk as she worked, her hands shaking as she held the stylus of her drawing pad. Beth and her cronies standing off to the side, stiff as boards, mouths turned down at the sides in poorly masked fear and resentment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had spent many afternoons watching his love hunched over a similar drawing tablet, brow furrowed in concentration as she sketched out some design or illustration. He remembered what she had said to him before he went back to the Paper Porcupine, her kiss still sweet on his lips. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Christopher,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>she’d called to him, eyes glinting and voice hard. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“If you hurt that girl, don’t bother coming home.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>His blood had gone cold. No threat had ever shaken him the way her words did and she had been threatened plenty of times. He could see in her eyes that she wasn’t fucking around and he looked at Cassian nestled in her arms and absent-mindedly sucking on a pacifier and he thought about never seeing either of them again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I won’t. I swear,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>he’d promised, before nodding decisively and heading out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So there he was, trying to appear as non-threatening and relaxed as he could while Lucy worked to try and put her at ease. He wasn’t sure if it was working.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How we doin’ champ?” he said easily, leaning forward with a smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My hands keep shaking,” Lucy grimaced apologetically and he decided that if he had hurt her, he’d have kicked his own ass.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” he said levelly, still smiling. “It’s okay.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He saw Beth close her eyes in his periphery and he imagined that she was counting down the seconds before the shit hit the fan. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jokes on her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just take your time, no rush,” he assured Lucy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She doesn’t need to be involved,” Beth said shaking her head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, cause you can do this?” he asked, raising his voice slightly and he cursed inwardly when Lucy flinched. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How about you two?” Christopher asked Annie and Ruby snidely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” Ruby said quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have the software,” Annie said shakily and he was honestly flabbergasted. Annie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Annie is just...chaos</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he had heard his fiancee once laugh. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Chaotic and prone to self-sabotage but her heart’s in the right place. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” he said to Annie, and she shook her head and averted her eyes. In another place and time, he might like her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All this time,” he said to Beth, smirking. “I thought you were the one doing the heavy lifting.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just let her go,” Beth responded, not rising to the bait.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And here you are stealing my girl’s thunder,” he smirked, gesturing at Lucy who smiled shyly. “Ain’t y’all supposed to be lifting each other up these days?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So much for feminism,” one of his men said wryly and Christopher laughed, mostly at the look of annoyance that passed over Beth’s face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe you don’t need to be involved,” he said falling serious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Suddenly a voice from the front of the shop chirped, calling for Lucy and he turned around tense.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s Mrs Harris, I told her that I’d stay late so that she could pick up her order,” Lucy said grimacing apologetically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Go tell Mrs Harris we’re closed, okay?” he said, using the serious voice he used with Marcus.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Lucy breathed nervously and she went to go attend to the customer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Go with her,” he ordered Beth, leaving no room for argument. Beth had no choice but to go, her lips pursing in irritation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, and be smart, yeah?” he said lightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They took longer than expected, the woman’s nasal voice droning on and on about invitations or some other thing he didn’t care about before he heard the storefront door jingle closed. He could hear Beth whispering frantically, her voice rising despite herself. She was probably telling Lucy all kinds of ghost stories about him and he smirked to himself. Did Beth really think so little of him?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually, after some more hushed conversation, they came back in. Lucy sat back down and continued working before saving the designs to a flash drive.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All done,” she declared eventually. “Um, feel free to email me any questions but it’s all on there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cool,” he nodded, smiling gratefully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh, graphicfarts89@gmail,” she said shakily and he smiled wider, prompting her to smile back shyly. “I, um, spelt it wrong and then, uh, got stuck with it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, I’ll give you a ride,” he said to Beth and Co., standing up and smirking at Beth just to rile her up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We have a ride,” Beth and friends said in unison.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let’s go,” he said brooking no room for argument. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lucy,” he said turning around. “I have someone that’d like to see you.:</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now?” Lucy asked in confusion. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, she’s kind of a night owl and with a baby, you have no choice but to be up late, am I right?” he chuckled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My boyfriend is probably worried and it’s late,” Lucy said uncertainly, walking quickly behind him to catch up as they headed outside to his Mercedes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Send him a text, you’re coming over for coffee and to talk, that’s it. And I’ll drive you home after, I promise,” he said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“O-okay,” Lucy agreed, eyeing the gun that he had in his hand warily and he tucked it away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lucy, don’t,” Beth said warningly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not gonna hurt her, Elizabeth,” Christopher said in exasperation. “Only way she gets hurt is if she talks. And you won’t do that, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Right,” Lucy said earnestly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And I got your word?” he said playfully. He knew from the beginning that she wouldn’t talk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cross my heart,” Lucy said seriously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then you don’t need to worry about me,” he shrugged. “I’d be worried about Elizabeth if I were you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now, hold on a sec-” Beth said indignantly but he cut her off by opening the passenger side door for Lucy, helping her in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, Elizabeth, we’ve got places to be,” he said wryly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please, don’t do this,” Beth pleaded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do what?” he asked innocently before he got his car and drove away, leaving three perplexed looks in his wake.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He drove in silence, Lucy wrapping her arms around herself and tucking her chin in to make herself look smaller.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wasn’t lying,” he said gently, keeping his eyes on the road as the got closer to his home. “I’m not gonna hurt you, Lucy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then where are we going?” Lucy asked quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My spot,” he said simply. “I think you should talk to someone...unbiased. She’ll help you sort through whatever you’re feeling right now. Also, I want her to see that I didn’t do anything to you so she doesn’t cut my balls off in my sleep.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lucy gave out a startled laugh at that and he smiled lopsidedly, happy that he got her to stop shaking in fear. He found that more and more, he hated feeling like a monster.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually, they got to his place and he held open the front door for Lucy, and she tentatively stepped in. Her eyes were like saucers behind her glasses, taking in their mismatched but cosy home before she glanced at him somewhat incredulously, his all-black outfit sticking out in the warm, colourful atmosphere.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You live here?” Lucy asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not in charge of interior decorating,” he said wryly. “I’m not in charge here at all.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, babe,” his love called out quietly. “I just put Cassian down. Is it too much to ask for him to sleep through the night.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, baby girl,” he said stepping into the living room with Lucy. “I thought you two should talk. Decompress and whatnot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She gaped at him and Lucy before she caught on to what he was saying. She got up with a groan, her body still somewhat sore before she walked up to him and laid a hand on his chest, kissing him lightly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” she said quietly. “Now go take a shower. You reek of gang activity.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow, thank you. I feel so loved,” he said sarcastically, walking into their bedroom to give them some privacy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He bent down to kiss Cassian’s forehead before he undressed and went to shower. As the warm water cascaded over him, releasing the tension in his body, he thought about the woman and child out there that made up his family.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And he felt glad.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So,” she said setting down a cup of hot chocolate in front of Lucy. “You’ve had your first run-in with a gang.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Lucy said, giving a startled laugh from where she sat at the small kitchen table. “Yeah, I didn’t expect hot chocolate at the end of it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Welcome to my life,” she laughed, sitting down across from Lucy. “It doesn’t get less surreal.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just, I just can’t believe that Beth would do something like that,” Lucy breathed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Printing fake money and money laundering? Yeah, me neither but the father of my child does that among other things I don’t even want to know about,” she deadpanned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I meant stealing my pet bird and holding him hostage but that too,” Lucy laughed humourlessly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry she did what?” she asked incredulously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I guess something happened to the engraver’s plate I had made for her because she came to me and asked me to do the designs again. For a gambling addicts night or something,” Lucy scoffed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sounds like Beth,” she laughed wryly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I found a sheet of shredded money and when I taped it back together, I knew what she was doing,” Lucy sighed. “I didn’t want anything to do with it so I said no.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Understandably.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But I guess she was so desperate that she kidnapped my bird,” Lucy said indignantly. “Why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s because of him,” she said in amusement, cocking her head in the direction of the bedroom. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But he’s so nice,” Lucy said looking even more confused. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He is,” she said wistfully. “But he isn’t always nice. And he has more cause to be not-nice to Beth than Beth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why?” Lucy asked, voice small.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because she shot him,” she said voice shaking slightly and she sipped some hot chocolate. “Three times. Lung, spleen, and shoulder. He would’ve died if it weren’t for his men and me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why?” Lucy asked still confused. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because she hates him,” she scoffed. “He wanted her to handle the mess he created. He went about it the wrong way and Beth was tired of answering to him so...she shot him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lucy was quiet for a while, her perception of Beth changing vastly in real-time. She wasn’t going to lie to Lucy though.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She thinks he’ll kill her if she doesn’t deliver so she’s trying to make herself indispensable to him. Because he has every reason to want her dead,” she said matter-of-factly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Will he kill her?” Lucy asked worriedly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” she scoffed. “Not if I have anything to say about it. Beth was my friend at one point and that means something. To me anyway.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lucy didn’t seem to know what to say to that, wrapping her hands around her mug and taking a deep gulp.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Listen, Beth isn’t a bad person,” she started seriously. “She’s, she’s addicted to this lifestyle and I don’t think she knows how to stop. That being said, stay far away from her. You don’t know her, you don’t know what she’s doing okay?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lucy nodded earnestly, eyes wide. “What about you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I’m fine,” she laughed. “What he does isn’t any of my business and despite my better judgment, I happen to love him so much I could burst. He takes good care of us and that’s why he does this. I just...I just hope he can stop one day.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What about me?” Lucy asked quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“As long as you don’t call the cops you’re fine,” she said casually. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, I mean...Beth was the only friend I had,” Lucy said, looking down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s where you’re wrong,” she said putting her hand over Lucy’s. “I’m your friend now. There’s no getting rid of me, sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lucy laughed and smiled shyly, squeezing her hand. They chatted idly about work, exchanged numbers, and she told Lucy about Ismael and they set a brunch date before Lucy told her about her boyfriend. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh! He’s probably freaking out,” Lucy sighed, kissing her teeth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just give him a call,” she said calmly. “Chris will give you a ride home.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, it’s so late, I can just uber,” Lucy said shaking her head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“God, no,” she scoffed as Christopher emerged from the bedroom is his lounge clothes. “Baby, can you drive Lucy home? Her boyfriend is probably going crazy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I already said I would,” he nodded, grabbing his keys. “Come on, rockstar. Let’s get you home to your man before he has an aneurysm.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bye, sweetie,” she said scooping Lucy into a hug and the smaller woman melted into it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Lucy said earnestly when she pulled away, looking at both of them. “Both of you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No need to thank us,” Christopher said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, if you need a friend,” she started.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Or a bodyguard,” Christopher chipped in with a smirk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know how to reach us,” she finished, nudging Christopher in the ribs and he chuckled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You guys are kinda gross,” Lucy said playfully wrinkling her nose.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s a gross sap,” she corrected. “I’m just in the line of fire.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sure, baby,” he said mockingly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut up, Christopher.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Whew, that was quite a long chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed that! Let me know what you think :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A little bit of a filler chapter before ish gets real.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Beth felt like she was floating outside of her body, a ghost barely tethered to reality, only persisting through sheer will and stubbornness. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She got to work early, ready for the day physically but her mind far from the invitations and place cards that their customers would have prattled on endlessly about. What did any of it even matter?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She knew she probably looked odd, gaunt and staring lifelessly into space. But how could she go on as if nothing had happened? Like there wasn’t a girl who was dead because of her. Such a sweet girl... How could she be so reckless? Stupid, stupid, stupid-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The door of the shop jingled as it creaked open and Beth wondered who on earth would be coming to a paper shop. She moved from the back of the store to greet whoever it was and was met by a very much alive and slightly startled, Lucy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They both stood across from each other, both afraid to move and startle the other. Beth knew she was probably gaping dumbly and she momentarily wondered if she had finally snapped and gone round the bend. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Morning,” Lucy mumbled, moving to dodge past Beth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“W-wait! Lucy!” Beth exclaimed, grabbing Lucy’s arm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What, Beth?” Lucy sighed, extracting her arm from Beth’s loose grip.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” Beth asked in exasperation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lucy simply shrugged and sighed. “I went to his spot and had hot chocolate with his fiancee and then he drove me home.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m being serious, Lucy,” Beth sighed, covering her face with a trembling hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So am I,” Lucy retorted. “And clearly, I’m fine.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make any </span>
  <em>
    <span>sense,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Beth muttered mostly to herself. “Why would he just let you go?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know what, Beth?” Lucy smiled ruefully. “Sometimes you don’t know a person as well as you think.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lucy,” Beth sighed, closing her eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not hurt that you’re some...criminal,” Lucy said shaking her head. “I’m hurt that you </span>
  <em>
    <span>lied </span>
  </em>
  <span>to me and then took my bird </span>
  <em>
    <span>hostage </span>
  </em>
  <span>to manipulate me into being part of your operation.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry, Lucy,” Beth whispered. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whatever,” Lucy sighed. “From here on out, I’m not involved.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can I treat you? To lunch or something to apologize? I promise Au Jus was being taken care of,” Beth rushed out. “My kids love her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think,” Lucy said, swallowing thickly. “I think I need some time Beth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Beth said quietly. “Take all the time you need.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They both looked at each other for a moment before looking around awkwardly, not quite sure what to say beyond that. Beth turned to go to the backroom and pretend to check the ink but Lucy’s voice stopped her before she could.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” Beth said tentatively.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You should really consider different career options,” Lucy said wryly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think you’re right,” Beth laughed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Talk about a toxic work environment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elizabeth,” Christopher drawled, sitting down on the bench where he usually met and antagonised her. “Why you lookin’ at me like that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t hurt her,” Beth said, it wasn’t a question.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, I didn’t,” he smirked. “I guess I’m not so bad after all.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She told you not to, didn’t she?” Beth said, not in the mood as usual. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He huffed. “Yeah, she did. But I gotta say, I’ve got a real soft spot for Lucy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth scoffed and he rolled his eyes at her. She had so many assumptions about him but no matter. She could think what she wanted. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here’s your cash,” she said flatly, gesturing to the boxes. One of his men gathered them before sharing a meaningful look with Christopher. Ah.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re feeling a little light,” he said an edge to his voice, and he tried not to enjoy the almost imperceptible tensing of Beth’s shoulders.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Printing costs went up,” Beth said smoothly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Printing costs,” he said sceptically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ink is expensive,” she retorted, shrugging, trying to keep her facial expression neutral.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’mma need to see an invoice for that,” he drawled, raising an eyebrow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth fixed him with an unreadable look, her lips pursing in the way that always told him that she was wishing that he would drop dead. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a folded slip of paper.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I thought you might,” she said snidely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He took the paper from her and tilted it into the low illumination of the streetlamp. It looked like bullshit in his expert opinion but he would give Beth the benefit of the doubt. He fixed her with his unreadable stare, searching her face to see if she would crack under the scrutiny but Beth maintained her poker face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” he conceded, hoping that Beth was smart enough not to do what he was pretty sure she was doing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She took the bag of money for the next run with poorly concealed self-satisfaction, her body swaying slightly to the side with its weight. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pleasure doing business with you,” she chirped.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <em>
    <span>Here we go again, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he thought and he tried not to get too excited.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope y'all enjoyed that! Happy Good Friday to everyone that celebrates Easter. Happy Regular Friday if you don't :)</p><p>Also, a friend suggested it so I'll ask. Would y'all be willing to donate to a Patreon if I made one? No pressure if you can't, I'm still gonna be posting works but it would make life a lot easier. Let me know. Again, absolutely no pressure.</p><p>Anywho, stay healthy and I love y'all :b</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>a little saucy, a little sweet, a little plot ;)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>“I want you to teach me how to shoot,” she spoke suddenly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked up from where he was playing with Cassian, the baby blissfully unaware of the bizarre statement uttered by his mother, a fist making its way steadily into his mouth before Christopher hastily slipped a pacifier in instead.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” he said quizzically, and he wondered if he was hearing things.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I said I want you to teach me how to shoot,” she said again, calmly as though there was nothing odd about her statement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nah, I heard you,” he said in amused exasperation. “Why? You hate it when I even leave my piece out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because it freaked me out,” she shrugged. “Plus we have a baby now and babyproofing means no firearms lying about.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Why </span>
  </em>
  <span>though?” he pressed, bringing Cassian into his lap, the baby having been trying somewhat fruitlessly to crawl to him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just in case,” she shrugged, not meeting his eyes, from her spot on the couch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He froze at that, holding Cassian a little tighter as he turned to face her fully. He couldn’t deny the guilt that filled him. He knew what he had to do and he knew his ‘profession’ came with its risks and occupational hazards but he failed to realise the fear that she probably felt.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know I would never let anything happen to you, right?” he said quietly, looking at her seriously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” she asked, looking confused. “I’m not afraid that something is gonna happen to me!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He fixed her with a quizzical look, his brow furrowing in confusion before his face cleared in realization, a small smile playing at his lips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You wanna protect me?” he smiled, feeling more flattered than he had any right to and more than a little smug. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I take it back.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, no, you can’t take it back. You care about me, don’t you?” he asked teasingly, before turning Cassian to face him in his hands. “Your mama cares about me. Maybe she even </span>
  <em>
    <span>loves </span>
  </em>
  <span>me. Yes, she does, oh yes she does!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cassian giggled at his father’s antics, slapping at his dad’s cheeks in something like affection and she smothered a smile at the sight.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I suppose you could say I’m a little fond of you,” she said in faux reluctance. “You might say that I’d want you to stay alive for as long as possible.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He sobered up slightly, still smiling at her softly. “You know I can take care of myself, right? I’m not going anywhere.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t know that,” she sighed, rubbing her eyes. “There are...some people that you may have pissed off that may want you dead.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“People like Beth, you mean,” he said, vocalising what she had been thinking. “So what’s you learning how to shoot got to do with anything?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She sighed and shrugged, mumbling incoherently, and studiously avoiding his gaze. The fact that the conversation was mostly one-sided was honestly surreal but she was almost too easy to read, and filling in the blanks was child’s play.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cassian’s talking more than you right now,” he sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I said I’d have your back,” she said quietly, meeting his eyes. “But realistically speaking...I can’t do shit.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Baby, you have my back in every way that matters,” he said earnestly. “You take care of me, you take care of this little guy, you give me so much just by being here for me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What am I supposed to do when you turn up half-dead again?” she retorted sharply, her words dulled by the tears in her throat. He didn’t know what to say to that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll teach you,” he conceded. “But if something happens to me, which it most definitely won’t, you can’t do anything stupid, alright?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stupid how?” she sniffed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stupid like going after Beth,” he said solemnly. “You’ll regret it later. Besides somebody needs to make sure that a certain somebody has their diaper changed and you can’t do that from prison.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Right on cue, Cassian started to whine and fuss, letting out temperamental little huffs as he squirmed in Christopher’s arms. Christopher stuck a finger slightly into the back of his diaper and found it dry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Little man’s hungry,” he huffed in amusement, handing the baby over to her. “That’s your cue.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She settled Cassian on the feeding pillow she’d put across her lap, pulling down her top to allow him to latch, promptly ceasing the baby’s cries and eliciting a contented sigh. They were both quiet as she fed Cassian, his wide brown eyes, slowly growing heavier before he was off to sleep like he always did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stroked the baby’s face gently as he slept, his mouth unlatching but still quirking as though he was still feeding  She smiled softly before gingerly getting up and putting him in his bassinette for a nap. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she stepped back out into the living room, she was immediately met with Christopher’s heated gaze and she stared at him quizzically, confused by the sudden change in atmosphere, before she realised her top was still partially pulled down. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Come here,” he orders, voice husky, and she quickly walks over to him, smiling shyly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She knelt beside him and he reached to cradle her face, his thumb rubbing circles onto her cheek and she leaned into his touch. He brought her face close to his before kissing her deeply, making her sigh into the kiss. He deepens the kiss even further, nipping at her lips as he manoeuvres her onto his lap, one hand massaging her thigh and inching upwards. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He flipped them over on the floor, still kissing her as she moaned into his mouth, hooking her legs around his waist. He trailed kisses along her jaw before leaving heated, open-mouthed kisses along her neck, leaving hickies along her pulse point making her hips buck into his and drawing a deep groan from him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You want it, baby girl?” he breathed, pulling away from her, grinding his hips into her making her gasp. “You want this dick?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please, Papi,” she mewled, tugging at his shirt. “Please take me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just as he was about to thoroughly debauch her, his phone rang, the ringtone telling him it was what she always called his trap-phone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fuck,” he sighed. Head hanging in disappointed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Leave it,” she breathed, looking at him in a way that had him ready to do just that. “Come on, ignore it. Fuck me, fuck me right here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You have no idea how much I want to,” he said, sounding almost pained. “But…I’ve gotta take this, baby.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She huffs petulantly, lying down on the floor as he climbed off her to take the call. He went to the kitchen to talk to one of his men, leaning over the kitchen counter, brow furrowed in concentration as he listened and dispensed orders accordingly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She came in from the living room, still pouting in the way that meant that she was about to be a brat and he glared at her, half-playfully, half-warning but she widened her eyes in faux innocence. She walked behind him before slipping her arms around his waist and he looked back at her before turning back to his call, assuming she was just being the koala that she tended to be. Or so he thought.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Soon her hands started to wander, rubbing slowly at his chest, slowly trailing down to his abs, tracing circles into his abs making him tense, before she quickly tried to slip a hand down his pants, a giggle escaping her but he grabbed her wrist before she could meet her target.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Boss?” one of his men asked, voice tinny through the phone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Keep talking,” he ordered, still grasping her wrist and manoeuvering her to stand in front of him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She looked up at him mischievously, a lip caught between her teeth and he looked down at her darkly, crowding her space and making her gasp softly. He hitched her up onto the kitchen counter, standing between her legs. He used his free hand to tug her lip from her teeth before trailing his hand down her throat making her gasp shakily as she was slightly ticklish. He settled his hand around her throat, tightening it slightly and she mewled, her eyes wide and full of desire, a self-satisfied smirk stretching her full lips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Boss? Boss, you gotta get here,” the phone chirped, reminding him that he was on his phone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked at her, panting and right where he wanted her. And right where she wanted to be. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lessons had to be taught, though. And duty called…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m on my way,” he said casually, before hanging up and smirking at her as her face fell in confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“W-wait-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I gotta go,” he smirked, bringing his face close to hers. “But when I get back, you’re in so much trouble.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He pulled away from her and grabbed his keys as he left the house, his exit followed by an annoyed and indignant huff.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t wait to get home.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth fixed him with her usual challenging glare as he stood above the three women sitting at the park bench. Annie and Ruby avoided his gaze as usual. It almost seemed like they thought they’d turn to stone if they met his gaze.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One of his men took the daintily wrapped boxes from the table and he fixed his boss with the same meaningful stare, his brow ever so slightly furrowed in annoyance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How we feeling?” he asked him, already knowing the answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Still light,” the man replied, each word seeming to weigh tonnes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Some fancy ink,” Christopher remarked, smiling humourlessly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The pigments from India,” Ruby said, still not looking at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why do I get the feeling this ink guy’s robbing me blind?” he asked knowingly, looking at Beth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t control the world market,” Beth said primly with a shrug and he smiled. Did she take him for some kind of idiot?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, bring him by,” he said in faux cheer and Beth stiffened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’d like to meet him,” he said matter-of-factly, the challenge evident in his voice. “You know? See if we could work something out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s in Oklahoma,” Annie piped up, finally looking at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thought you said Kansas city?” he asked Beth, an edge to his voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Isn’t that in Oklahoma?” Annie asked slowly, looking anywhere but at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Missouri,” Ruby said tiredly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked away from the pair to fix the brains of their operation with an unflinching stare.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll see what I can do,” Beth conceded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cool,” he smirked, turning away from the women, eager to get back to his lover.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What about the next run?” Beth piped up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen till I get my costs down,” he said casually.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re still making a profit. It’s still good business right?” Beth said indignantly, finally cracking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not if you don’t trust your partners,” he said walking away from them to his Benz.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And he tried not to enjoy Beth’s palpable fury, her gaze burning holes into his back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He ignored it, his mind far from Beth, a fire burning deep inside him for another woman, waiting for him at home.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry for the late update, I'm busy working on a digital magazine with some very cool people. We're called The Humanity Saga and we're on Instagram if you maybe wanna give us a follow ;)<br/>Also on my <a href="https://crappedoutlungs.tumblr.com/">tunglr</a> if you want, there's a link that'll let you buy me a coffee :b</p><p>I hope you enjoyed that! Let me know what you thought or tell me how you're feeling about this quarantine. Talk to me about whatever :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I won't even lie, this is complete smut. Feel free to skip this chapter</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>“You took so long,” she whined despondently from the couch, flopping over the arm dramatically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You could have gone to bed,” he smirked, closing the front door behind himself. “You didn’t have to wait up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She huffed in amusement, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “We have a baby now. We have to take these moments as they come.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She got up and sluggishly shuffled to him as he stepped into the living room, resting her head against his chest with a soft thud, and he brought his hand to pat the back of her head gently, a chuckled rumbling in his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eyes still closed, she tilted her face up to his expectantly and he kissed her softly, making her sigh contentedly before he pulled away, a hand still cradling her face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let’s get you to bed,” he said, as she pouted petulantly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But we were supposed to, you know…” she trailed off, tugging at his shirt.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And we will,” he said softly. “When you’re conscious. Tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No buts,” he said firmly. “There’s gonna be lots of time for me to do all kinds of bad things to you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You can’t say stuff like that and expect me to just go to sleep,” she whined, resisting the urge to stomp her feet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Baby, you’re dead on your feet,” he laughed, putting his arms around her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you wanna?” she asked quietly, insecurity colouring her voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I always want to,” he said darkly, tilting her chin up with a finger and he felt her skin break out in goosebumps, a soft gasp escaping her full lips. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was it right there. It was how much she loved him, it was how she bloomed under his touch and how she still got shy when he smiled at her. Her love and desire for him echoed greatly as love and desire for her. They resonated so deeply in each other that he thought he had to be dreaming every time he woke up next to her and she curled closer to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You sure you’re not too tired?” he asked, too weak to resist.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She nodded earnestly and stepped closer to him her hands resting on his chest as she waited patiently for him to make his move, her deference turning his blood to fire in his veins.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Kneel</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” he said firmly and he felt himself harden as she slowly lowered herself before him, not a hint of hesitation about her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She looked up at him, her eyes wide with desire, and chest rising and falling deeply with anticipation. He noticed the light, almost paper-thin short slip she was wearing, her nipples pebbled and visible through the thin material. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know what to do,” he said softly. “And you know the rules.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, daddy,” she said demurely, her hands clenching and unclenching, no doubt resisting the urge to ease herself off the throb between her legs. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her hands trembling slightly as she went to unzip his jeans and extract his steadily hardening member, her tongue darting out to wet her lips. She kissed the tip lightly and he grunted before she began to place open-mouthed kisses along his length. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She fastened her lips around the tip of his length and she hummed as her mouth was filled with the steady drip of precum, the vibrations making him hiss. She sheathed her teeth and took as much of him into her mouth as she could, bobbing her head along his throbbing length slowly, one of his hands resting on the top of her head, helping her along. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She could not fit all of him into her mouth, opting to stroke the base of his member as she sucked him. He took handfuls of her braids in his hands roughly and she groaned at the sting. He began to fuck her mouth, swearing throatily as she pressed her tongue against his length. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her eyes were screwed shut and watering,  he noticed that her hands were tentatively wandering around her inner thighs, skirting near where she wanted them to be but never going as far as to touch herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He continued to fuck her mouth, slowing down ever so slightly relishing the warm, wet heat of her mouth, savouring the moans that vibrating through his length. He saw her hands flexing and he wondered how long she could go before she caved and began to finger herself in earnest, desperate to cum.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Look at me,” he said darkly and slightly breathless, but her eyes remained shut, tears dripping from her long eyelashes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I said look at me, you little slut,” he bit out and he felt her moan as she opened heavy-lidded eyes to regard him, adoration and desire on her tear-stained face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know you wanna touch yourself,” he breathed, still fucking her mouth. “Go ahead, baby. Touch your pussy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She wasted no time in getting a hand between her legs, sticking a hand into her underwear to circle her clit, making herself moan shakily around his length and making him swear.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She knelt there as he continued to fuck her mouth, her fingers thrusting desperately into herself with an obscene squelch and her eyes closed again, her mouth growing slack around him as she pleasured herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you fuckin’ cum,” he said warningly. “If you cum, you’ll wear the plug for a week.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With a muffled whine, she removed her hand and he pulled out of her mouth, making her whine again. Her face tear-stained and lips wet and swollen, looking thoroughly debauched. But he wasn’t done with her. Not yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Couch,” he ordered, voice husky. “Let me see your cunt.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She shivered ever so slightly and got on the couch, putting her ass up in a presentation to him, her body trembling slightly in anticipation. He got onto the couch behind her and ran his hand over her ass, making her gasp slightly and push back into his touch. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just as she relaxed into his touch, he drew back his hand and struck her ass with the broad of palm, making her muffle a cry into one of the throw pillows. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I told you that you’d be in trouble, little girl,” he said softly, stroking the area he had just struck. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, daddy,” she gasped, pushing her ass into his touch again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He struck her again and she moaned softly into her arm. “Little girls behave when daddy’s on the phone.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I won’t do it again, Papi,” she said breathily.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” he asked and he saw her nod earnestly. “Yeah, I don’t think you mean that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He struck her again three more times in quick succession before he pushed her panties aside to run his fingers along her slit, finding her wet and dripping. He slowly pushed a finger inside her and she clenched around it, mewling as she hid her face in a pillow. He pushed in another finger and she slicked onto his fingers, the slide growing easier as he thrust his fingers against her g-spot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Look at you,” he chuckled darkly. “Enjoying your punishment like a slut.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She clenched around his fingers, still hiding her face in embarrassment but her cunt spasming and betraying her arousal. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I forgot how much you like that,” he said casually. He hadn’t forgotten. He knew every single thing that made her cream and he knew exactly how to wind her up. “Forgot how much you like being called a slut. A </span>
  <em>
    <span>whore</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Daddy, please,” she begged in a small voice and he added another finger, impaling her on three fingers and making her groan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please what?” he said in faux innocence. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please. Please fuck me,” she said quietly. “Please, daddy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why should I give you what you want?” he asked. “I’m supposed to be punishing you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be so good for you, Papi,” she swore, pushing her hips back to fuck herself on his fingers but he gripped her waist tightly. “I’ll be so good, so good. I promise, daddy, </span>
  <em>
    <span>please.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He put the blunt head of his cock against her opening before running it against her lip, bumping it against her clit and making her moan. He teased her for a while like that, relishing her desperate little moans. He wanted to see her face. It had been a while since he had taken her like this and he wanted to see her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Turn over,” he ordered, smacking her thigh lightly and she shakily got onto her back, looking up at him from where he was still kneeling. He stroked his cock a few times, now painfully hard and leaking precum. She looked at his cock hungrily, pressing her thighs together.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Open your legs, slut,” he said still holding his dick and she covered her face as she slowly exposed herself to him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh-uh,” he said admonishingly as he settled himself between her legs. “I wanna see you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She lowered her hands and he put a hand between her legs to rub roughly at her clit, making her back arch as her mouth opened in a silent cry. Wasting no time, he pushed his cock into her slowly, her walls tight around his cock. He pushed himself roughly into her, groaning at her tight wet heat and relishing her high little pants in his ear. He let her adjust for a second before her hips started to move against his and he began to fuck her in earnest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He fucked into her quickly, pushing her thighs up to practically fold her in half, her face slack in pleasure as he ploughed into her mercilessly. She squelched around him obscenely and he watched where his cock disappeared into her and he groaned at the sight of her creaming onto his cock.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whose pussy is this?” he breathed, not ceasing his thrusts.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s yours, daddy,” she gasped, voice high and he knew she was close. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You like this dick, slut?” he asked, bringing one hand to wrap around her throat and he groaned when he felt her clench.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, fuck,” she gasped, eyes rolling back. “I love it, daddy! I love how you fuck me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He sat up, still inside her, and held her hips up to continue fucking her, the change in angle hitting the spot inside her drove her crazy. Soon, her eyes began to water, each thrust producing small, punched out gasps as her walls began to flutter around his length. As he watched her tits bounce with each thrust, he felt his balls tighten as his climax approached but he was determined to make her cum before himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He brought a hand to her clit and rubbed it roughly, and she gasped again, the sound turning into a sob as her walls fluttered with greater urgency. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Daddy, please can I cum?” she sobbed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cum, baby,” he said. He rubbed at her clit faster before he brought his hand against in a smack against her engorged nub and her back arched before her walls clamped around his length, spasming as she gushed rhythmically, each squirt drenching where they were joined. He sped up in his thrusts, the slide easier and almost impossibly wet with her release.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Such a good little slut,” he groaned before he slammed in a final time and filled her with his release, grunting with each spurt. She sighed in pleasure as he came inside her, her cunt clenching slightly at the sensation. It leaked out of her obscenely and he tried to push it back into her before he pulled out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She collapsed back against the couch, her legs still spread in a way that made his cock twitch valiantly when he saw his cum leaking out of her. He thought absently that he could probably go again but he saw her worn out and prone form and he decided to go easier on her. He instead got up, tucking himself back into his pants before he scooped her up in his arms and carried her into their bedroom and lay her on the bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before he tucked her in, he dug out the plug that he had gotten her so long ago and thrust it into her, making her moan softly but she didn’t protest. He figured she didn’t want to make a mess on the sheets and would probably thank him later. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You did so well for me, baby,” he said softly, stroking her face gently. “You’re always so good for me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mm, good?” she mumbled leaning into his touch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Amazing, baby girl,” he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “You need some water, baby? Juice?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just hold me,” she mumbled, sleep already taking her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So quickly, undressing he brought her close to himself as she fell asleep and he let sleep claim him, he thanked whatever god he could think of that they didn’t wake the fucking baby.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope y'all liked that :b<br/>How is y'all doing? Let me know how quarantine is going and let me know what you thought of the chapter!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I am still alive and I bring with me a new chapter. Plot.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>He felt like what he assumed teenagers felt like after they’d hugged their crushes for the first time, giddy and in more of a good mood than he had any right to be in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He finished brewing her tea, splashing in some milk and stirring what he maintained was too much sugar before carrying it into the bedroom on a tray with a plate of pancakes. He padded into their room where Cassian was slowly fussing awake, his mother awake and smiling sleepily at him as he approached. She appraised him appreciatively, and he remembered that he was only wearing his boxer briefs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yummy,” she said cheekily, blinking blearily at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I made you breakfast, baby,” he said softly, as she sat up in bed to take the tray from him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And you didn’t burn the house down?” she asked in faux surprise.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut up, man,” he huffed in amusement. “I pull my weight around here and you know it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Right on cue, Cassian whined and began to snuffle with the beginnings of a cry but Christopher scooped him into his arms and patted his back, knowing instinctively that the little man’s diaper was full. It was bathtime anyway thankfully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“See?” he said smugly, getting Cassian ready for his bath. “I pull my weight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She rolled her eyes fondly, putting her hands up in mock surrender before cutting into the stack of pancakes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So what’s on tap for you today?” she asked as she did every morning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The usual,” he shrugged, taking Cassian into the adjoined bathroom. “Make a few deals, scare a few people.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She chewed in contemplation, quiet for a while before she asked, “How are things going with Beth.”</span>
  <span></span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, she still wants me to drop dead,” she heard him chuckle, his laugh interspersed with infantile giggling and splashing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And the ink?” she asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s pretty funny how your friend thinks she can lie to me,” he said wryly. “I’m meeting the ink guy today so that we can ‘work something out’.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Work something out?” she asked sceptically. “You mean to scare him into cooperating.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If he exists, then yeah,” Christopher said, stepping out with a very clean and happy baby, swaddled in his arms. “I think little pup here needs his breakfast too.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why are you doing this again?” she asked curiously, as she put aside her empty tray and took the baby from him and pulled down her top to feed him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She’s stealing from me,” he said, an edge to his voice. “And she thinks she can get away with it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So how does playing her game help?” she asked in confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He shrugged as he shifted on his feet, his lips pulling down momentarily. “Just to fuck around with her. Scare her back in line. And if that doesn’t work…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You can’t kill her,” she deadpanned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why not?” he asked throwing his hands up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because she has a husband and kids and friends and she’s on the fuckin’ PTA,” she retorted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So?” he asked genuine confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You will go to prison, Christopher,” she said slowly. “They will lock you up and throw away the key.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So what am I supposed to do?” he sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have a bad feeling,” she said gravely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your psychic powers kicking in again?” he asked in amusement. “Having a vision?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m serious,” she said seriously, trying not to whine petulantly. “I think Beth might try something.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Try what?” he asked incredulously. “To kill me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” she said as though it was obvious. “You’re the only person in her way. And she hates you. Like a lot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you and I know you don’t want me to hurt her,” he started. “But I will slit her throat before the thought finishes crossing her mind.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He saw her breath hitch slightly and her eyes widened. If he didn’t know any better he would say that she looked afraid. Too bad he saw the same look on her face while his cock was in her throat. He smirked at her and she cleared her throat pointedly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let me talk to her,” she tried. “If you don’t manage to...incentivise her, let me talk to her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You think she’ll listen to you?” he asked doubtfully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” she huffed. “But it’s worth a try. We need to keep her on-side. Make sure she isn’t too reckless.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think we need to do anything but okay,” he grumbled, stretching languidly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, fine. If nothing works then why don’t you just scare her out of town?” she huffed in frustration. “I’m pretty sure the FBI is gonna notice nail polish covered money soon anyway.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” he asked in alarm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whatever chemicals you used before probably stayed under the radar,” she shrugged slightly. “I’m pretty sure they’re gonna jump on nail polish soon.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shit,” he sighed, his head falling back as his eyes closed in realisation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know the money passes the checks and it looks good but they’re a huge red flag,” she continued. “Who, outside of nail salons, buys nail polish in bulk? They’re gonna find her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His head snapped up suddenly. “They’ll find her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’ll only find her. Not me,” he shrugged. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know damn well that Beth will rat you out in a heartbeat,” she deadpanned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“God, she’s such a fuckin’...” he grumbled in irritation, pacing in a tight circle.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She sighed in tiredness. “You’re gonna be late for work. Go shower. We’ll talk over dinner I guess.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It seemed like they were stuck in a place where the easy solution was to put a few bullets in a few skulls but was being constantly tripped up by morality. He spotted the tired but calculating look on her face, Cassian blissfully unaware in her lap, his foot in his hand as he looked around the room. He went over to her bedside and he bent down to kiss her soundly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Advisor to the king,” he smiled against her lips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Someone</span>
  </em>
  <span> has to be the brains of the operation,” she laughed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fuck you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he, later on, went to meet Beth in some overcrowded bar, the smile that he was sporting from spending some quality time with his lady turned to a razor-sharp smirk when he saw Beth and the man she sat primly beside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The man was black and fairly young, dressed in a polo and jeans with a haircut that made him look like a makeup brush. His eyes were about the size of dinner plates and his bottom lip trembled as he regarded Christopher. Oh, this was going to be good.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What is this?” he asked Beth sitting down smoothly and raising an eyebrow at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You wanted to meet my ink guy,” Beth said matter-of-factly, facing the frightened young man.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He fixed the man with an amused stare and he was sure the man peed himself a little bit, his body jerking slightly as he was pinned under Christopher’s stare.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You want something?” he asked the man and the man swallowed thickly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um, coke with a slice of lemon would be, uh, would be nice,” the man stammered nervously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He smirked at the man just to see him squirm before he stopped a waiter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, can you hook up my man with a coke. Slice of lemon,” he drawled, pinning the man with a stare once the waiter nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So you fly private or commercial?” he asked, aiming to disarm Beth and the man and succeeding.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Excuse me?” the man asked in frightened confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oklahoma, right?” he asked looking between them. “And based on what you’re charging me, I figure you must have like a G6 or something.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I talked to JT here about your cost concerns,” Beth chipped in, brow furrowed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah?” he asked smirking, leaning forward with his chin propped on his hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And I think he has a solution to make it all go away,” Beth said primly, looking at JT, who in turn looked like he was about ready to be sick.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That right?” Christopher mused, looking at a moisture ring on the wooden table before fixing JT with another challenging stare. Suddenly, the man shifted, his right arm moving unnaturally. He turned his stare to a warning one. Surely, Beth wasn’t stupid enough to try something in a crowded bar. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The stare Beth was burning into the side of JT’s head said otherwise. The air between felt constipated. Like if someone released the tension then it’d be okay. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here you go,” the waiter said suddenly, breaking the tension and setting down a bourbon for Christopher and a coke for JT. “Coke. Slice of lemon.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher sipped at his bourbon while JT just stared at him, seemingly frozen in his seat. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m all ears,” Christopher prompted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go ahead,” Beth said to JT, her voice hard and tinged with impatience. Christopher simply regarded the man with a cold stare. JT’s right arm moved in that unnatural way again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>JT blinked nervously, stammering incoherently as his forehead beaded with sweat. Whatever Beth was planning on doing, she would have been far better off doing it herself. But momma couldn’t get her hands dirty, could she?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, um, well,” JT stammered and Christopher’s patience started to grow thin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just,” Beth said with feigned calmness. “Give it to him straight.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>JT’s arm began to tremble then, still moving in that unnatural way as he trembled and sweated, his coke untouched as it bubbled almost ominously between them. He fixed Beth with an unamused and warning stare, daring her to go through with whatever she had planned. He would come back, stronger and angrier and more ferocious than ever. He could almost imagine what her blood would smell like.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I made a mistake,” JT blurted and he took his eyes off Beth, his anger and bloodlust, dimming to give way to intrigue. Beth’s head whipped to look at JT incredulously. “I shouldn’t have tried to raise my prices on you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You almost lost a customer,” Christopher said smoothly, looking at his glass of bourbon. He could see Beth’s crestfallen face in his mind’s eye.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry,” JT said emphatically, his frame trembling like a leaf.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All good,” Christopher said, finishing the last of his bourbon and getting up to leave. “Glad we could work it out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait,” Beth piped up, and he turned to stand in front of her, glaring down at her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That all?” she asked JT, her voice hard. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Th-thanks for the coke,” JT said smiling unctuously as though if he didn’t then he would burst into tears. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, on the house,” he smirked before patting Beth on the shoulder. “You work with really smart people.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And though he wanted to wrap his hands around her throat until she stopped feeling like a thorn in his side, he walked out of the bar, Beth’s eyes burning with hatred into his retreating back. He wanted to kill her. Slowly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Instead, he went home to hold his lover and child, for that morning might’ve been their last together. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope y'all liked that :) let me know what you thought and how you guys are doing. Stay happy and healthy folks</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ayyy I'm back!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Hey, daddy,” she said in a sing-song voice from the kitchen where she was stirring what smelt like bolognese. For whatever reason, being there, at home, in their kitchen, where she was making him dinner like she always did, made him recall the night’s events with almost frightening clarity.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth had a gun pointed at him. Again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He knew that Beth hated him and he knew that she would want him dead at some point. But in his mind and his many machinations, he knew that he would find a way to take care of her before she could raise a hand to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t fear death. Not in the beginning, the time before his lover and his sons. He knew that that was the way he was most likely to go out and he had embraced it. After all, he didn’t have much to live for. Not back then. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But then Marcus was born and he loved his son more than he even loved himself and that was enough for him to decide to keep on living. That was the justification for the space that he took up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then he met her and he couldn’t find it in himself to stay away from her, even when he knew that she was too good for him. She was pretty and demure but spunky in a way that threw him off. He thought that she was afraid of him in the beginning but he quickly learned that he made her nervous because she </span>
  <em>
    <span>liked </span>
  </em>
  <span>him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Him! She liked </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span>! </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was aware that he was an attractive man but most women approached him for sex and nothing more but she wanted </span>
  <em>
    <span>more</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And he could never deny her anything. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And she gave him so much. A home, a son, a </span>
  <em>
    <span>family. </span>
  </em>
  <span>And Beth nearly tore him away from all of it if it weren’t for the fact that she enlisted the most incompetent person humanly possible to follow through with the job. Beth probably didn’t want to get her dirty. Not directly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So he crossed the distance between them quickly and put his arms around her, his chest pressed to her back, inhaling the scent of vanilla and washing powder that always hung around her. She was soft and warm and everything comforting and suddenly the adrenaline from the anger and the fucking fear of being confronted with Beth’s bloodlust and audacity suddenly dropped, leaving his body trembling slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Baby?” she asked in confusion, lowering the heat on the stove to face him and she put the back of her palm to his forehead. “What’s wrong, honey?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing,” he mumbled, nuzzling his nose against her if only to just feel her close to him and breathe her in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You can’t lie to me,” she said, voice colouring with amusement despite her obvious concern. “What happened?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And just like that, it all came spilling out of him. He was never the emotional sort and he favoured sitting in the dark with a finger of whiskey while he mulled over whatever emotion he had chosen to turn on that evening. But she brought out his softness and his vulnerability and she praised him for it. Once he had filled her in, he was almost panting from exertion, the mental weight of it finally set down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She simply nodded once resolutely, looking off to the distance for a bit before she tilted her head up to kiss him softly, her hand resting on his chest just over his heart. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re okay,” she whispered, cradling his face. “You’re here with me and with Cassian and you’re okay.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He held the hand that was touching his face, grounding himself at the moment with her and feeling so grateful. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to take care of it,” she whispered and he heard the edge in her voice. “Let’s get you something to eat. I know you only had some bourbon like an idiot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wanted to go back to what she said, dissuade her from the inevitable confrontation but the look in her eyes told him not to bother. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve got your back,” she said wrapping her arms around his waist. “You’re okay.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And he believed her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The diner was mostly empty in the awkward hours between breakfast and lunch. The wide windows let light stream in but the harsh sunlight, the dated decor made the place seem like a faded sepia photograph. Sun-bleached even. It didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be staying for very long.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” Beth chirped sitting down in the diner booth. “I’m so glad to-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Be quiet,” she said quietly, unable to even look at Beth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth reared back slightly as though she had been slapped but sat down anyway, clasping her hands on the table primly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now,” she started taking a deep breath. “I just wanna know what the hell you were thinking trying to kill my fiance.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth looked taken aback for a moment, her mouth gaping almost comically if it wasn’t for how immensely angry she was, her hands trembling ever so slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well,” she bit out. “Speak.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I- I-,” Beth stammered looking around before shaking her head. It was almost like she was shaking her brain back into place. “It’s pretty funny that he went crying back to you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She laughed at that and Beth’s face placed. It was a humourless laugh. A cold, empty and spiteful thing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t get it, do you?” she chuckled humourlessly. “If it wasn’t for </span>
  <em>
    <span>me </span>
  </em>
  <span>he would have slit your throat two weeks ago and buried you in a cornfield.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth pursed her lips at that, her face paler than usual and fear in her eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But I didn’t want that for you,” she continued. “I didn’t want that for your children.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth tilted her chin up in defiance, seemingly trying to project an air of confidence despite not knowing what to say. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You, all of you, are only alive and you are sitting where you sit because </span>
  <em>
    <span>I allow it</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she hissed. “And you repay me by hiring some spineless nobody to kill him?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He is bleeding us dry,” Beth said quietly, her voice pleading. “We have kids to feed, bills to pay.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So your solution...was murder?” she asked incredulously. “You can really be a dumb bitch sometimes, Beth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now, wait for a second-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What were you gonna do?” she asked chuckling coldly again. “Have one of your lackeys shoot Rio in a crowded bar? What were you gonna do after that? Shift the blame onto the poor guy and pretend like you’re still the cute PTA mom that hasn’t got a clue?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who was he anyway? Your hitman?” she asked, looking out the window. “He clearly wasn’t a pro since he choked.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s not important,” Beth bit out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not important, huh? He’s not important, you mean,” she said challengingly. “You were going to ruin his life but it’s not important, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s not fair,” Beth said, eyes becoming glossy. “That is not fair.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You were going to murder the love of my life and the father of two children and you wanna fucking talk about fair,” she laughed again, her hands clenching and unclenching.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We need the money,” Beth said quietly after a moment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I get that,” she sighed. “Truly I do. But you need to understand that because of the last stunt you pulled trying to kill my man, we have debts that we need to pay since he was out of commission for a while. Once those are paid, your cut becomes a little more substantial. So really, the only person you have to blame is yourself.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth’s face was flabbergasted, her eyes wide and mouth agape, her frame trembling slightly. “I didn’t know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Co-operate, Elizabeth,” she said, voice flat. “It’s better for all of us if you do. So that means no more cute little assassination plots.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And if I don’t?” Beth asked quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I care about you, Beth,” she said instead of answering. “You were my closest friend. I feel like I don’t know who this new Beth is but I loved the old Beth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing’s changed,” Beth said pleadingly, leaning forward in her seat. “I’m the same. Mostly. I’m trying to change.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure you are,” she replied smiling sadly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t answer the question,” Beth pressed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I care about you, Elizabeth,” she started and Beth tensed at her tone and the use of her first name. “But if you </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever </span>
  </em>
  <span>pull a stunt like that again, I will kill you myself.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You would choose him over me?” Beth asked looking hurt. “What did he do to you? How did he make you like, like this?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“In a heartbeat,” she said looking Beth dead in the eye. “But only because you chose yourself over me. And he didn’t do anything to me. But you can’t seem to stop doing stuff to me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She got up to leave and she turned to walk away, feeling like the moment was far too tense and too dramatic to stew in but she turned back around. She needed Beth to know that she wasn’t fucking around. She leaned down to whisper straight into Beth’s ear.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Remember,” she said calmly. “It can all turn to blood in the blink of an eye if you test me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Y'all good? Y'all healthy? Did y'all enjoy that?<br/>I'm good, I'm good. My asthma hasn't been great so I've been self-isolating like a pro.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A bit of a filler chapter. I'm sorry I've been away so long. Pls forgive me &lt;3</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>He could kill her. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>should </span>
  </em>
  <span>kill her</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sure, it might be a little messy to cover up but it was definitely possible. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Elizabeth. Mother of five. PTA member. Perpetual thorn in his side. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher wondered how he let things get so out of control, how he had allowed such audacity to take root and flourish in this woman. Perhaps it was that first time, that first time he had a gun pressed against her temple and he allowed himself to be swayed by her little speech about how if he murdered her it’d attract too much attention. Looking back, that was the whole reason they staged it to look like a home invasion. Yeah, sure, he was bluffing but he could have taken some of their stuff for good measure and set it on fire out of spite. Why didn’t he do that?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Her. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He remembered the fury on her face. It had hurt. But not nearly as the disappointment on her face. She had begged him not to kill them and he had every intention of ignoring her. After she was just pussy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That’s what he’d tried to tell himself. But the disgust on her face was burned into his memory. At the time, he didn’t understand why he felt so guilty. He tried to tell himself that she was nothing to him and that he could just forget about her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But then she had yelled at him. No one had yelled at him in decades. Men pissed themselves at the sight of him and here was this 5’6 spitfire yelling at him. How on earth could he stay away from her after that?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Aside from being enthraled by her, he had felt guilty. </span>
  <em>
    <span>She </span>
  </em>
  <span>had made him feel guilty. So he wanted to be better. For her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If it wasn’t for her, Beth would be bones and a vague memory. As he understood, she had explained this to Beth in excruciating detail, something that he wished he had been around to see. She was always beautiful but she was radiant when she was angry. He had been wary of getting her involved in his...activities but she was on the warpath and he sure as hell wasn’t gonna stand in her way. He had been sure that Beth would fall back in line. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But Beth was either more stupid than he thought, suicidal, or just plain disrespectful.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth had stolen from them yet again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So almost weightless on the wings of his rage, he found himself facing his lover while she, in turn, faced whatever was bubbling enticingly on the stove. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She stole again,” he said softly, his body still save from the tremble in hands that yearned to wrap around a throat. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course she did,” she laughed humourlessly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tell me what to do,” he bit out. “Otherwise I </span>
  <em>
    <span>will </span>
  </em>
  <span>bury her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She owes us, right?” she asked calmly, stirring the pot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. A lot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, when someone owes you, you can only do one thing,” she said shrugging and turning to face him. “Repossession.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He frize and looked her in the eye, unsure if he understood what she was trying to get at but he could see that she was resolute.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You want me to-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yup,” she said cutting him off with a smirk. “You have to admit. It’d be pretty funny.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And just as she had said it, so it was done. Not too far away, the next night, he watched as Beth froze in her doorway and he could only imagine her face when she realised that he had taken every single piece of furniture in her house. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And he hoped that she understood, he would take even more from her if she tested them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I,” Beth started with gravitas, her eyes wide and pleading, her bottom lip trembling ever so slightly. “Am so sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Annie and Beth nodded frantically in unison, affecting an air of regret and sincerity that ended up being more humorous than genuine. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is that so?” she asked, flatly raising an eyebrow at them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Beth breathed leaning across the booth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The bar around them was packed and noisy, the atmosphere seemed to echo the thrum of her thoughts. She knew she had to be careful, that she had to be firm lest Beth thought that things were easily resolved. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I screwed up with my bosses,” Beth smiled self-deprecatingly and her lips twitched at Beth’s sycophancy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Never good,” she nodded, kissing her teeth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m still valuable though,” Beth pressed on. “And they know it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She raised an eyebrow at Beth but said nothing, leaving room for Beth to continue.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I only did it because </span>
  <em>
    <span>they </span>
  </em>
  <span>work me so hard and don’t pay me anything,” Beth said, managing to sound only a little bitter about the fact.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you want, Elizabeth?” she asked with a sigh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just what’s fair,” Beth shrugged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm, fair,” she echoed trailing off with a humourless laugh. “Yeah, we don’t owe you. It’s the other way round remember?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth’s face fell, her eyes shining with what she would like to belive was guilt, Annie and Ruby kept their eyes downcast. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can’t we just go back?” Beth asked almost pleadingly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, that’s up to you,” she shrugged. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” Beth asked in confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You have to earn it, Beth,” she said slowly</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Beth said after a moment, shrugging and shaking her head. “I’ll do anything.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Anything?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Within reason.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And with that, was Beth’s introduction to getting her hands dirty. Because she was going to be a getaway driver for none other than their favourite formerly imprisoned grocery store manager.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth looked like she’d swallowed a lemon.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope y'all enjoyed that! Sorry again for the late update but online learning is doing the absolute most. I missed y'all uwu</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bit of a filler chapter but I felt bad for not uploading for this long :b</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The tension in Beth’s shoulders was obvious, her hands white-knuckling the steering wheel of her car. Ruby and Annie kept their eyes downcast, studiously observing the no doubt crumb covered carpet of the minivan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She regarded them silently from outside of the car, her hands fisted in her jacket pocket, trying to appear calm despite her irritation. The parking garage they had agreed to meet was deadly quiet and she absently hoped that Lucy was okay babysitting Cassian.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re late,” she said flatly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We got a little sidetracked,” Beth said defensively. “He wanted to say goodbye to his grandmother.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She narrowed her eyes at Beth searching for any hint of a lie but she could see that Beth was being honest. Shockingly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well?” she prompted. “Did he?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” Beth sighed. “She’s dead.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She almost felt bad for Boomer. She couldn’t imagine going to prison and having the one person who she loved and was loved by in turn die and not know. But then she remembered that this was Boomer they were talking about.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm,” she hummed frowning and she could see Beth wasn’t satisfied with her reaction. “Where is he?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Trunk,” Beth said dejectedly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She looked back over her shoulder to where Christopher was leaning against the Benz with his boys and nodded towards the trunk of the car and they calmly advanced towards Beth’s minivan. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could vaguely hear muffled questioning sounds coming from the back of the van.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher’s men extracted an ever so slightly wriggling bag that emitted muffled panicked sounds and she felt vaguely guilty as the men loaded the bag into the back of the black van they had brought. God, it was all so surreal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well. You know what they say happens to snitches.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What are you going to do to him?” Beth asked, gulping slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing that should worry you,” she said with a tight smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait, I-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stay out of trouble, Elizabeth,” she said with a cheeky wink, walking away to join Christopher. “I’ll be seeing you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We need more money!” Beth called out from behind her but she didn’t turn around and she didn't slow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Be good, Elizabeth,” she said, lending the slightest edge to her voice and she hoped that Beth wouldn’t try her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Things aren’t ever that easy though, are they?</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you're all safe and healthy! I apologise for the wait but I've had a lot on my plate lately and I haven't been able to come back to this fic. I want to finish this in about three chapters and then I'll move on to the Sleeping on the Blacktop sequel which will be almost easier to write but that's if I have the time. <br/>I hope this little update will satisfy you for a little bit :) Uni and my health hasn't been great so please bear with me &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dream a little dream...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was warm in their bed. But not too warm. It was the kind of warmth that came from being your favourite fresh sheets and next to your favourite person. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They had managed to sleep through the night, Cassian waking up at unholy hours less and less and they were forever thankful. She sighed contentedly and felt a warm body press against her back, and she nuzzled back against it, letting her skin soak up the warmth, breathing him in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good morning,” Christopher grumbled, placing a soft kiss on her shoulder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good morning, my love,” she sighed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let me see that beautiful face,” he chuckled sleepily, turning her onto her back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You see me every day,” she mumbled throwing an arm over her eyes, feeling embarrassed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t do that,” he said softly, moving her arm. “I could look at you forever and never get tired.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sweet talker,” she smiled up at him sleepily and he huffed at her attempt to deflect the compliment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you,” he said softly but the sincerity in his voice made her feel his words in her bones. He bent down, his face close to hers and he repeated himself, affirming the words. “I love you, baby girl.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you more than I can even say,” she said feeling slightly choked up but he stopped her tears with a kiss. His lips moved against hers softly but insistently, like he was trying to articulate everything he felt and wanted to say into that one gesture, that one kiss. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Warmth flooded her body as he kissed her. She was warm. So warm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The warmth felt like it was everywhere, surrounding her body and pouring into her. She sighed into the kiss but suddenly, the warmth was getting uncomfortable, so she tried to wriggle out of the covers but Christopher’s weight was strangely immovable. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It went from warm to hot and eventually scorching, and she felt sweat pouring down her body, collecting in seemingly endless rivulets. She couldn’t breathe and she tried to gasp against Christopher’s lips but he continued to kiss her. His body felt like a tonne of bricks on her like a tonne fo kiln-fired bricks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her body was drenched and she tried to open her suddenly very heavy eyelids and when she finally did she wished that she hadn’t because she opened her eyes to see Christopher, his face pale and his eyes rolling back slightly in his head. His body felt like it was existing in two quantum states, simultaneously weighing her down and floating above her ominously. What she thought was sweat collecting on her body was thick rivulets of blood, pouring out from three bullet holes in his torso, his body twitching slightly in pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my God,” she gasped and she tried to sit up and help him but her body still felt weighed down. Still felt like dead-weight. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The blood was pouring out from his eyes and mouth and ears and it was...torrential. It wouldn’t stop and soon it was everywhere, seeming to fill each corner of their room and she heard Cassian’s distant cries, panicked and fearful. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My baby,” she gasped, struggling against her invisible bonds. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>My baby</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But Christopher was still and pale as the blood flowed freely from his body, his corpse, and the last thing she heard before she was swept under the torrent were Cassian’s cries.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She woke up with a start, her body drenched and she turned on her bedside lamps in the dim light of the dawn to make sure it wasn’t blood, her chest heaving with painful gasps. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Baby?” he grumbled in confusion, his mind still addled with sleep. “What’s wrong? Do you need the nebulizer?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god,” she cried, her gasping giving way to sobs, moving over to his side of the bed and cradling his face with shaking hands. “You’re alive, you’re okay, oh my god.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What? Baby, I’m fine,” he said suddenly alert and sitting up to hug her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You were dead,” she sobbed, her body shaking. “I dreamed you were dead and I couldn’t move and Cassian, oh my God, my baby, where’s my baby?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Baby, baby, look at me,” he said firmly, cradling her face and making her focus on him. “I’m okay, alright. I’m not going anywhere.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just then they heard Cassian babble sleepily over the baby monitor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“See, Cass is okay,” he said soothingly, rubbing her cheek comfortingly. “I’ll go get him, okay?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher quickly went to the next room to go get the baby and by the time he got back and she could see him holding Cassian, she slumped in relief her arms instinctively reaching for the baby who Christopher handed to her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My darling,” she cooed in relief at Cassian, kissing his forehead and chubby cheeks, the baby babbling happily in response. “Mommy loves you so much.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cassian began to mouth at her shirt impatiently and she lifted her top to feed him, comforted by the fact that she could still perform the action. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once her trembling hand subsided, she felt Christopher’s concerned gaze burning a hole into the side of her face and she felt a little embarrassed by her hysterics.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That sounds like some dream,” he said softly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not a dream. A nightmare,” she whispered, the images she saw burned into her mind. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going anywhere,” he swore, taking her hand in his. “I’d never let anything happen to you or Cassian either.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe I’m still reeling but,” she said averting her eyes. “Watch your back around Beth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher huffed and turned away. “Beth can’t-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She </span>
  <em>
    <span>will</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she bit out. “You need to stop underestimating her. She shot you once and she will do it again.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, okay,” he said placatingly. “I’ll be careful.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” she sighed. “Can we pay her more yet?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We could,” he said letting the sentiment hang in the air. “But that would set a precedent.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A precedent?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” he sighed. “If I pay her more just because she’s whined about it enough, it shows that I, that we. can be swayed. If I suddenly pay her more after she had a gun pointed at me, that shows that I can be intimidated.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who cares what she thinks?” she said pleadingly. “Isn’t it worth it if it keeps you safe?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If we pay her then that might be what tips the scales and makes her decide to kill me,” he shrugged. “Might be what makes her think I’m soft.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I,” she started but she couldn’t fault his logic. After all, he had more experience than her in all this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I could...just, ahem,” he said awkwardly, miming a motion of cutting at his kneck, minding his language around Cassian. She always found it funny when he did that because she was sure that they sounded just like the parents from Charlie Brown to Cassian, the cutie pie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not unprovoked,” she sighed, clinging to a rapidly fading sense of morality. “Not until she gives us a reason.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” he acquiesced. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You still need to teach me how to shoot,” she reminded him quietly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher huffed at her persistence. “Well. I guess I know what we’re doing today.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That means you get to spend the day with aunty Lucy, my love,” she cooed at Cassian who was now occupied with trying to fit his foot in his mouth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And maybe mommy can spend some quality time with daddy and make it up to him for waking him up at 5 am,” Christopher said cheekily with a wink.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Anything daddy wants daddy gets,” she said smiling innocently.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He fixed her with a dark smirk before standing up and stretching and heading for the shower. She watched the muscles in his back undulate beneath his tan skin and as though feeling her gaze he turned around and quirked an eyebrow at her and she averted her eyes suddenly feeling bashful. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He moved to stand in front of her and he leaned down to kiss her deeply, her head spinning with its intensity. He pulled back and smiled, his eyes heavy-lidded. beautiful.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>While he was in the shower, she tried to commit the image of him sleepy but happy to memory, tried to use it to chase away the horrible images in her head. And for a moment it worked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But the phantom smell of blood and Beth’s favourite perfume hung cloyingly in her nose.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A long-ish chapter for you :) I hope y'all enjoyed that. Thank you for your patience and your kind and understanding comments. I really appreciate it &lt;3<br/>Let me know what you think! I'm hoping to finish this off pretty soon but I'm grappling with finding a satisfying ending. But hey we'll see ;)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I'm back :) <br/>In this chapter, Beth does some thinking...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Beth was a mother. She was a woman.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She remembers lying in a hospital bed, her body feeling bruised, beaten, and stretched to the absolute limit but looking down at the small human in her arms and feeling her heart and mind open to the child. She had to know instinctively when to feed her children, burp them, change them. Comfort them. Elizabeth had opened her mind to the needs of children that could not care for themselves five times. Five gruelling times. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So forgive her if she believed in the adage that mother knows best. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth knew in her heart of hearts that her friend was not herself. Beth knew that she hadn’t been herself for a while. Because of him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After all, she was just a child, Beth thought, nursing a bourbon in her sparse house, emptied because of Rio.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was just a child that fell head-first for the first man to treat her like a princess but Beth knew better than anyone that the fairytale never lasts. Shit. The whole reason that they were in that mess in the first place is that Dean set fire tot heir book of fairy tales when he decided to sleep with his secretary and flush their credit score down the toilet. But like a mother always did, Beth had to fix everything. Pick up the mess, wipe tears, and have dinner on the table by 6 o’clock.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth remembered the first time she met her friend. Beth had been shopping for yet another bake sale when she came across her. She was gawky and awkward, her braids piled precariously atop her head, and her glasses sliding down her nose. Her brow was furrowed in concentration as she added up what appeared to be the cost of a box of cheerios to what Beth assumed was an already worryingly small total. She couldn’t have been older than 19.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A baby.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Beth said cheerily and the girl, the child jumped slightly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey?” the girl asked warily, looking around to see if Beth was, in fact, talking to her. She was worryingly thin, dark circles stark against brown skin. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You okay?” Beth asked despite knowing the answer and knowing that the girl looked about ready to bolt. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Y-yeah, I’m just gonna,” the girl stammered before throwing the cereal into her sparse shopping cart and walking off to the cashier to pay. Beth let her go but, really, all she wanted to do was sit the girl down and feed her. Beth wasn’t sure why she was in this girl’s business but she could tell that it had been a while since someone was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth walked leisurely to the queue at Annie’s till and found herself rather conveniently behind the girl who was trembling ever so slightly in her oversized clothes, her purse in hand. It looked awfully thin. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She locked eyes with Annie as she started to scan the girl’s items and they exchanged matching looks of sympathy. Beth </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>to help her, right?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’ll be $79.56,” Annie chirped. The girl froze.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, um,” she stammered. She took out all the bills she had in her purse and fumbled for some coins. “I- I have 35 bucks. Could you- could you take some stuff off? Please?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” Beth said before she could even process what she was doing. “I’ll cover it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What? Why? What?” the girl stammered in confusion but Beth already had her card out, ready to pay. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about it,” Beth smiled, shaking her head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No buts,” Beth said firmly and she smiled and paid for her groceries as well.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I- You- Thank you,” the girl finally said, her eyes wide as Beth handed her groceries.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Beth,” Beth said holding out a hand and the girl tentatively shook Beth’s hand, offering her name in return. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And I’m Annie!” Annie piped up with a cheeky smile. “I’m her sister.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And that was that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth fed her, clothed her, comforted her through breakups...Beth </span>
  <em>
    <span>raised </span>
  </em>
  <span>her. She was all but dependent on Beth until she graduated and got a job and even a little longer after. She used to be lost without Beth. She used to need Beth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But she left Beth behind. For him. She said that Beth was poison.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But Beth knew better. Beth knew that he did something to her. There was no way that she would be this stupid, this...</span>
  <em>
    <span>rebellious</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She was threatening Beth for god’s sake! He had to be doing something to her to make her so disobedient. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth knew her friend. She knew her child. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth was going to get her baby back and keep her family together. If she had to break a few eggs to do so, then so be it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth shot him once already. She could do it again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth sighed into her now empty glass. If Beth killed him then she would never come back. She needed to feel like she had no other options. She needed to feel like she did in the supermarket that first time. She needed to remember that she </span>
  <em>
    <span>needed </span>
  </em>
  <span> Beth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If Beth happened to keep her money in the process… Well, then that would be a win-win.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth?” Dean said quietly, breaking Beth out of her thoughts. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You okay?” Dean asked in concern, sitting down in front of her at the small table.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Beth sighed. “Just thinking.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know you can’t keep doing this, right?” Dean said quietly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do what?” Beth asked, an edge to her voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This!” Dean said in exasperation gesturing at their empty house. “You need to stop messing around with this guy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth didn’t respond. They had had that conversation before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What happens when he can’t take anything else from us?” Dean asked desperately. “Think about our ki-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I am </span>
  <em>
    <span>always </span>
  </em>
  <span>thinking about our kids,” Beth spat. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” Dean asked flatly. “And you want what’s best for them?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Of course,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Beth stressed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then </span>
  <em>
    <span>stop it</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” Dean said, leaning closer to Beth. “Stop all of it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We need the money, Dean!” Beth said indignantly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We need to be safe, Beth,” Dean retorted. “I don’t get it. What are you trying to prove?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not trying to prove anything,” Beth bit out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean leaned back in his seat and held his arms out as though to say, </span>
  <em>
    <span>then stop. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth didn’t know how to say no to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Dean said nodding placidly. “Fine.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay?” Beth asked dubiously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Dean sighed. “I’m taking the kids to my mom’s. I hope you have a great time playing with the violent gangster.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dean-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, Beth,” Dean said quietly. “Just no.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He walked away from Beth and she saw her family leaving her in his retreating form. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She knew what she needed to do.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Heyyy! I know I've been away for a while but I'm gonna try and finish this thang real soon :) Thanks for being patient! Love ya!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Talking! Lots of it!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I needed to meet face to face,” a surprisingly mild-mannered man said to Beth, spreading his hands plaintively. “In my line of work, you need to be careful who you get into bed with.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The diner was busy for such a late time of night and bustling with activity. Probably for the best, given the unsavoury nature of their conversation. Perhaps it’d get lost in all the noise. As far as anyone knew, they were two regular adults meeting for dinner. The man looked like the furthest thing from threatening and Beth was dressed immaculately, having skipped out on surprising Dean at his award’s show. She had hoped to persuade him to bring the kids back home but she got the text at the last minute. Beth needed to do it. Dean would forgive her in time. She just needed to do this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So our mutual friend got you up to speed with-” Beth began but the man cut her off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I am so sorry,” he said again with disconcerting courteousness. “I can’t talk shop on an empty stomach. Do they serve breakfast all day here?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He is a hitman, Beth reminded herself. He kills people for a living.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They have a great Eggs B,” Beth said, voice slightly hoarse.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Done!” the man said delightedly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He ordered the dish with great relish but surprised Beth by taking only a single bite of everything on the plate. Beth was starting to wonder if as stressed and frazzled as she was, she was having a hyperreal hallucination.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Was it not good?” Beth asked incredulously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Exquisite,” the man exclaimed primly. “Dolly Parton famously takes one bite of each food group. That’s how she’s kept her figure.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Huh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All right,” the man said reaching into his jacket pocket and Beth flinched subtly but she had a feeling that the man noticed anyway. “Shall we look at our calendars?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This is a hitman. He has a slight transatlantic accent, eats like Dolly Parton and kills people for money. This was Beth’s mantra.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can,” Beth started unsurely. “I’m kinda new to this…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t get a lot of repeat customers,” the man said wryly, his brow furrowed but eyes sparkling with mirth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh,” Beth laughed nervously. “How does this work?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man set his arms on the table, looking down and thinking for a moment before speaking slowly with great intention.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Say I’m your lawyer,” he began. “I usually do a fair amount of prep work before we got to...</span>
  <em>
    <span>trial</span>
  </em>
  <span>. So I charge by the hour. Research and discovery are billed at 700.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth nodded in understanding. He is a hitman, not a lawyer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The defendant,” he continued. “Is he local?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth nodded quickly, her mouth too dry to utter a word.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Great, so travel is not an issue,” the man said mildly. “All other expenses are on top of the retainer.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He is going to kill someone, Beth thought. He is going to kill someone for me and travel is not an issue.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Trial itself will run you 60 grand,” the man informed Beth. His mouth was thin and bracketed with wrinkles that betrayed his age. Those thin lips quirked up in a slightly self-satisfied smirk and Beth noted how bright and cold his eyes were.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We were told 30,” Beth said shakily. “I only brought 30.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The man smiled a knowing smile and said lowly, “You’ll receive invoices as we go.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth looked down feeling more frayed and strained than ever. She just wanted him dead. He just needed to die why was this so difficult to get done. God, if she could close enough then she could just throttle him-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So,” the man said decisively as he looked at his phone, breaking Beth out of her reverie. How is Tuesday at 3:45? Too soon?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He asked like he was trying to find out when next they could have another Eggs Benedict whereupon he would once again take only a single bite of each food group. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No sooner’s better,” Beth said in slight desperation. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, scrap that. I’ll be in Ohio,” the man said quickly and Beth resisted the urge to tug at her hair. “Any chance he’ll be in Ohio?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth shook her head, her eyes glossing with tears.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The next available slot that I have is,” the man said trailing off as he swiped at his phone. “Oh!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth looked up, waiting with barely concealed tension.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Friday morning,” the man said with another slight smile, making a motion with his hand as though to say </span>
  <em>
    <span>well what do you know?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That works,” Beth said quietly, swallowing bile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Done,” the man said decisively and she felt the weight of the word in the back of her skull. He motioned with his hands towards her. Ah, yes. The money.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He is a hitman and he will do as hitmen do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She handed him a sealed brown envelope.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Mrs Boland,” he said courteously and she felt like she was hearing him for far away and up close all at once. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He, in turn, handed her a small white business card that read, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Mr James Fitzpatrick</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The card proclaimed that he owned a business by the name of Pack N’ Ship that dealt with shipping, of course, notary, and passports.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But Beth knew better. She knew that Mr James Fitzpatrick was a hitman.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He would kill someone for her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t wait.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Talk to me, baby,” Christopher sighed, taking out his earplugs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was dark, it was cold, and she missed her baby. Her mind was also buzzing at a thousand miles a minute with worry and paranoia but she tried to focus given that she had a firearm in hand. They were at a secluded cabin just outside the city where they had been coming so that Christopher could teach her to shoot and so that they could have some...alone time. But all she could think about was Beth. That's the only thing she could think about those days. The pit in her stomach just burrowed further and further with each thought of Beth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“About what?” she asked, checking the magazine of the gun she had just fired.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“About whatever’s on your mind,” he said with faux casualness. “About whatever’s giving you such shitty aim.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She reloaded the magazine roughly, her lips pursed at being caught out. “Maybe I’m just a little absent-minded today, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Christopher.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t do that,” he chuckled indulgently. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do what?” she shrugged innocently.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lie,” he said fixing her with a firm stare. “And say my name like...that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You usually love it when I say your name,” she snarked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We both know I have a specific preference,” he said raising an eyebrow and she rolled her eyes. “Don’t change the subject.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have a really bad feeling about Beth,” she sighed and Christopher sighed. “I know, I know. But she says she hasn’t paid her mortgage in months. Ruby’s daughter needs her meds. They’re getting desperate.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not to sound insensitive or nothing,” he started, sitting on the hood of his Dodge. “But why should I care?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because desperation makes people dangerous,” she spat, rounding to face him. “Desperation, Christopher, makes people stupid.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is this because of that dream you had,” he asked quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m pretty intuitive you know,” she said handing Christopher the gun. That day was clearly not the day for target practice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So what?” he scoffed in amusement. “You’re psychic.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not saying I’m psychic,” she said shoving his shoulder. “Asshole. I’m just </span>
  <em>
    <span>saying...</span>
  </em>
  <span>I’m rarely wrong about my gut feelings.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mmhmm.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If it wasn’t for my gut feeling we wouldn’t be here,” she said smugly waving her newly iced left hand in his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You had a good feeling about little old me?” he asked with a smirk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I had a feeling,” she scowled. “Whether or not it was good…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If I recall correctly-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nope, shut up!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If I recall you had several good feelings because of me,” he rushed out with a shit-eating grin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I hate you,” she sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No you don’t,” he laughed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wish I did,” she retorted. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No you don’t,” he repeated with a shrug. “But seriously.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” she asked with a small smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was just a dream, baby,” he said grabbing her hand and pulling her close to him. “She tried to take me down once and I’m still here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You almost weren’t,” she said into his shoulder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going nowhere,” he said firmly, holding her tight. “Besides, I always have eyes on Beth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She pulled away from him in surprise. “What?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m confident, not stupid,” he shrugged. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You could have told me,” she said shrilly. “Got me out here worrying, looking crazy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I thought it’d be obvious that I’d have eyes on the bitch that wants me dead,” he said slowly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t read minds!” she retorted in exasperation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I thought you were intuitive,” he smirked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have never met such an infuriating human being in my whole ass life.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aw, babe. I love you, too.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut up,” she said rolling her eyes, trying and failing to hide her smile. “So do your spies have anything to report.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing much,” he said, pouting thoughtfully. “Her hubby grabbed the kids and left but nothing much else has happened.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dean left?” she asked in alarm. “Hm, this isn’t good.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“For her? Yeah, probably not,” Christopher agreed, humming thoughtfully and resting his head on her shoulder and she rested her hand on his head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, I mean, yes but that’s not what I meant,” she sighed. “Remember what I said about desperation.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What does her husband leaving have to do with me?” Christopher asked, his interest already waning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth hates you and blames you for everything that’s gone wrong in her life?” she pointed out. “She’s probably not in her right mind if Dean took the kids.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just then Christopher’s “trap phone” went off and she watched him put on his scary mob boss face before answering.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wassup. Talk,” he said curtly and listened intently to what one of his loyal goons had to say. She watched his face go from passive to surprise, before eventually landing on furious. His jaw clenched and she could see a vein throb on his temple so she could say with a fair amount of certainty that he had just gotten some very bad news.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, I’mma holla at you later,” he said, swiftly ending the call.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why do you look ready to kill someone?” she asked warily.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your homegirl just sat down with some hitman to take me out,” Christopher said flatly, absent-mindedly rubbing his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She knew that he had been avoiding talking about the shooting but she could tell that almost dying in her bed hit him pretty hard. His chest still hurt from time to time and he always got quiet and thoughtful on those days. They needed a plan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” she said calmly. “I think I have a plan.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope y'all liked that! It was lots of fun to write! I missed doing this :D<br/>Let me know what you think! Just realised this story has like zero smut. Tragic.<br/>Hope you're all safe and healthy &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>There is a plot afoot. Also, Macbeth references because this is my fic, and I get to choose the references :)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Annie,” she said happily.”Ruby. How are you guys doing? It’s been a while.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Annie and Ruby exchanged incredulous looks in the restaurant, shifting uncomfortably in their seats as they fumbled for an answer. She hadn’t told them why they needed to meet, preferring to keep them in the dark. They were nervous, and nervous met clumsy which was perfect for her purposes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, um, we,” Annie stammered. “I’m doing okay. I think. Ruby?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ruby jumped slightly in her seat and winced slightly. “Solid. I’m totally solid.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What happened to your leg, Ruby?” she asked in faux concern. She already knew what happened. Annie, Ruby, and Beth had cooked up a hair-brained scheme to rob the gas station that Annie worked at. Things escalated and some civilian that wanted to be a hero ended up firing a gun and the bullet hit Ruby. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, just a little accident at a gas station. Must’ve sprained something,” Ruby said, trailing off into silence towards the end.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hmm, yeah,” she said non-committally. “How’s therapy going, Annie?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How did you-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know, that Dr Cohen might be able to help you if you stopped trying to sleep with him,” she said casually. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Annie flushed bright red, her face scrunching in embarrassment and anger. It almost looked like her hair was fluffing up in fury like a Ghibli anime character. If she didn’t have a plan she would have provoked Annie a little more just for shits and giggles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let’s not lie to each other, hm?” she asked placing her hands on the table. “I know what happened to your leg, Ruby. I know that you’re currently in the middle of self-sabotaging, Annie. I know that Stan is working a demeaning job. I even know what you had for lunch yesterday.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you want from us?” Ruby sighed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She simply stared at them coldly and let the silence descend oppressively on them. She realised rather belatedly that she was furious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why did you rob that gas station?” she asked calmly. She already knew why but she needed them to say it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They exchanged another meaningful glance, silently deliberating between themselves about what degree of honesty they should operate on.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t lie if I were you,” she smiled sharply and she glanced to her side. Annie and Ruby locked eyes with the large tattooed man at the next table of the otherwise empty restaurant. His beard obstructed most of his face but it was obvious that he was smirking when he waved at the two women.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We needed the money,” Ruby said quickly, scrunching her eyes closed like she was bracing herself for a blow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What for?” she asked lowly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t make me say it,” Ruby whimpered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I want you to say it, Ruby,” she said calmly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You already know what!” Annie shouted, eyes glassy with tears.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Say. It,” she hissed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“To pay a hitman to kill your, your...To kill Rio,” Ruby said quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You robbed a gas station,” she said calmly. “To pay a hitman to kill my husband.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Husband?” Ruby and Annie asked in alarm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She smiled to herself, putting her left hand over her right and funnily enough, the sun hit the small diamonds just right. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Husband,” she said in confirmation. “Father of my child. You would have him killed.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She drummed her nails against the table and she watched the pair of women flinch at the sound. She felt like she was looking at strangers. Maybe they always had been strangers that only put up with her because Beth put up with her. Maybe she should have seen this coming.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What are you going to do with us?” Annie asked quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was the question.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going to kill you,” she sighed before glancing at her ‘bodyguard’. “And he won’t either.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then what do you want from us?” Ruby asked incredulously. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I want you to pull off one last robbery,” she said. “And no fuck-ups. No prints, no CCTV, no texts, no paper trail. And most importantly, no Beth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why?” Annie asked in confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh-uh,” she said smiling savagely. “That would be telling, now wouldn’t it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And if we refuse?” Annie asked, raising her chin defiantly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then I’ll have you killed,” she said with a shrug, hoping she sounded more confident than she did. “I thought that’d be obvious.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Right on cue, her scary-looking accessory shifted and moved his jacket to reveal a gun and several knives. Huh. She hadn’t planned that but it seemed like the guy was good at improv.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where?” Ruby asked tiredly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ve probably noticed the sudden shortage in your favourite shade of nail polish,” she started.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How did you- Never mind,” Annie said looking grey.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And we all know that there’s one last place that still has it,” she smirked. “I want you to steal the nail polish.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All of it?” Ruby asked warily.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All of it,” she confirmed with a smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How are we supposed to do that?” Annie demanded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Get creative,” she said sharply still smiling and the women gulped. “I expect it done by Friday. And remember, no Beth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you going to do something to Beth?” Annie demanded. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing lethal,” she shrugged. “Just a little damage control.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You ungrateful bitch!” Annie hissed and the bodyguard tensed, ready to strike but she held up a hand to stop him. “After everything she did for you!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know,” she started thoughtfully. “I remember being in university, broke as hell until Beth came along. I was cared for in ways I never had been, had a shoulder to cry on at all times. I felt so lucky until I realised I didn’t have a life outside Beth. She was like the mom I always wanted but so...overbearing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now wait-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t,” she said through gritted teeth. “Interrupt me. Beth gave me so much but it was always in exchange for a monopoly on everything I was. Everything I would ever be. It was like being a leash kid. Beth isn’t in her right mind. But I’m going to fix that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Annie stared her down resentfully, eyes glistening with angry tears. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What I’m going to do is in the best interests of everyone. Beth especially.” she sighed. “I’d comply if I were you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She stood up to leave her tattooed sentinel getting up at the same time but just before she skulked out of the restaurant she turned back to the ladies with a dead-eyed stare. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This Friday,” she said, brooking no room for argument. “Remember. I’m always watching.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And she left, all the while thinking of plots and machinations.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and Beth felt like the static had finally cleared from her mind. It was 12:30 pm and the root of all her troubled had finally been weeded out. She had even bought champagne and she danced through her painfully empty house, eager to celebrate the first of many victories as she unpacked her groceries.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What are we celebrating?” an all too familiar deep voice drawled from behind her and Beth jumped, a cold clammy sweat overcoming her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No, no, no, no, no.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This was the blood that she couldn’t wash off, the ghost that would haunt her forever.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? —Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him. Come out, damned spot! Out, I command you!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Elizabeth,” he smirked from where he stood in the doorway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?—What, will these hands ne'er be clean?—No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that. You mar all with this starting.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I asked you a question, Elizabeth”, he said walking slowly over to her. He picked up the bottle of champagne that Beth had just opened and Beth knew that he was in fact real.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing,” Beth said hoarsely. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Rio fixed her with a sceptical stare, searching her face for an answer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let’s go for a drive,” he said turning around to walk out the door. It wasn’t a request.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They drove for some time, Rio with his hood up and Beth frozen in her seat. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Go to, go to. You have known what you should not.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Static. Just static buzzing in Beth’s mind like bees and broken TVs. He should be dead. Why isn’t he dead. He’s a stain, a plague, a tumour-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I would just really like to know where we’re going,” Beth said quietly breaking the silence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, you will,” he said vaguely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When we get there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You have known what you should not. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If there’s some kind of problem-” Beth started but Rio cut her off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How much cut have you got now?” he asked an edge to his voice, but eyes still on the road.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” Beth shrugged cagily.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where’s it all going, Elizabeth?” he pressed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Will theses hand ne’er be clean?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” she asked looking out the window.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What are you buying with it?” he asked darkly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth couldn’t answer. The static was too loud and her head so heavy with whispers of men who should be dead that she couldn’t formulate a lie through the din.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, see,” Rio drawled. “That’s why we’re here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They pulled into what appeared to be an ordinary car wash and Beth was alarmed yet confused. What was he playing at? Was he going to kill her and leave the car to these strangers to erase any evidence of her demise. Was this the end of the line?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Set me up, please,” Rio said casually to the car wash attendant. “Thank you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They started to roll through the wash slowly, the only sound between them the patter of water against the sides of the car, the sun blocked out in the tunnel of spray and spinning brushed. Beth looked over at Rio in fear but he just stared passively ahead, his face betraying no thought or emotion. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Everything okay with the last batch?” Beth asked shrilly, attempting to sound unaffected. Unafraid. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mm-hmm,” Rio responded non-committally.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’re actually printing tonight so if you, uh, like, if you wanted to we could do the drop-off early,” Beth babbled. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That won’t be necessary,” Rio drawled. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What? What? What?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth briefly considered jumping out of the car but suddenly Rio reached over and opened the glove compartment in front of Beth. Beth was close to tears. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth resisted the urge to let out a relieved gasp when she saw him take out to stacks of money and put them in a crumpled brown paper bag. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So last time you were cash-heavy, things got tricky,” Rio started, still not looking at her. “‘Cause you and your girls went stupid and burned it with the feds.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stopped and rolled down the window, handing the paper bag off to one of the attendants with a nod. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t turn this properly, you attract attention,” he said slowly. “You need a system.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth was speechless.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’mma ask you again,” he said finally looking at Beth. “Where’s it been going?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Somewhere safe,” Beth said vaguely, looking out the car window.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What, like a mattress?” Rio said with thinly veiled amusement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Beth agreed, jumping on the excuse. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, except you ain’t got one,” Rio said lips pursed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ah, yes. Beth still had no furniture.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where’s the money going?” Rio asked again, his voice slightly raised and his patience running thin. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t tell you!” Beth said in exasperation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then I can’t cut you in anymore,” he retorted flatly. He wordlessly got out of the car and was swiftly replaced by one of his goons.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Static. Blood. Whispers. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He should be dead.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Things are getting spicy hey? lol<br/>I hope you enjoyed that! Let me know what you thought! Hopefully, I can update this tomorrow.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A little bit of a filler chapter. Things are gonna go down soon ;)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>“What now?” Christopher said into the silence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What was it like?” she asked instead. They were sitting on the couch, Cassian long asleep when they decided to debrief in the living room/ war room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What was what like?” he asked in confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What was it like when you started all... this?” she asked gesturing vaguely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was,” he started unsurely. He’d never given it that much thought. “It was terrifying. I was young and stupid and getting jumped into a gang really puts things in perspective.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She reached out and took his hand in hers. She could almost see the memory playing out behind his eyes, phantom pains dancing over his body.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why’d you join?” she asked tentatively, running a hand over his knuckles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why does anyone?” he laughed humourlessly. “My dad was a drunk, a real violent one too and no mom… I guess I wanted to belong somewhere, to something. I wanted a family.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ve never talked about your parents,” she said quietly. He shrugged, attempting to seem nonchalant but she could see that thinking about it hurt him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, well,” he sighed. “Dad being dad and mom running out on us, running out on me...I guess I decided I was an orphan.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry, Christopher,” she said squeezing his hand. He smiled tightly and squeezed her hand back but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Anyway,” he said pushing on blinking too quickly. “I joined and I was kinda the runt of the pack.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him and he laughed despite himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s true, it’s true,” he chuckled. “I was a scrawny fuckin’ teenager so I got pushed around a lot. Man, if it wasn’t for Mick I’d be face down in a puddle somewhere.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mick?” she asked in disbelief. “Big scary tattooed Mick that carries at least three knives at all times?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, that Mick,” Christopher laughed fondly. “Why do you think he’s been on bodyguard duty with you recently? He’s a solid dude.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t doubt it,” she laughed. “It’s just funny to think of big bad Mick picking you up by your scruff to make sure you don’t die.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, well,” Christopher smiled fondly. “He gave me the worst dressing down at first. Asked me what the hell I was thinking. It was too late though so he just made sure the other guys didn’t give me too much crap.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So how’d you get to be the boss?” she asked and the fond smile that had graced Christopher’s face morphed into regret.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mick did what he could but I was still the runt. I didn’t join a family, I’d joined a food chain,” he said flatly. “And I was at the very bottom.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you wanna be the king, you gotta kill the king,” she said quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was just so sick of being pushed around,” he bit out. “I just wanted to-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Feel powerful?” she finished for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s bothering you?” he asked, somewhat cottoning onto what she was asking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t like this, Christopher,” she said quietly. “It was cool at first, finally having some control over Beth. It was nice to have your back.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But?” Christopher pressed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t like threatening people,” she confessed. “I don’t like worrying about the cops. I don’t like feeling like a, like -”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A monster,” he finished for her, his gaze far away. “Neither do I.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When this whole thing with Beth is over, I think we should leave,” she said quietly, unwilling to meet his gaze. “This isn’t any way to raise a child.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher paused for a second, the set of his shoulders tense and his lips pursed thoughtfully. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The air in the room felt fragile like something would break if either of them said the wrong thing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And if I say no?” he asked, his voice flat and betraying no emotion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then,” she started with a sigh, fiddling with her engagement ring. “Then we’d need to reevaluate this whole situation.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher fixed her with a startled stare. “Situation?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Our relationship, Christopher,” she said, resigned. “I don’t want to but I will if I have to.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher let out a little punched-out breath like she’d just struck him in the stomach and she hated that she did that to him but it was a conversation that they’d needed to have. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You joined because you wanted a family,” she said choosing her words carefully. “And now you have one.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” he said quickly, scooching close to her and holding her hands in his, his expression desperate. “Okay, I’ll stop doing all this and we’ll leave. Just... don't leave.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” she said, eyes watering slightly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I would do anything for you,” he said earnestly and she saw his eyes shining.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They grasped each other’s hands tightly and smiled a tad too sappily at each other before Christopher kissed her deeply. Even after all this time, it left her heart thundering in her chest. She cuddled up to him and just soaked in his closeness and the peace of the moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did Annie and Ruby get the nail polish?” he asked rubbing his hand up her arm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” she said and she thought about how innocuous of a statement that was out of context. “I also go their engraver’s plates and all the other printing supplies.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So what’s left, evil mastermind?” he asked teasingly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, we just need to put the stuff in the right place at the right time and make sure that Beth is in the right place at the right time,” she shrugged with a little laugh. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You really think this is gonna work?” he asked quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was the question.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It has to,” she whispered.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope y'all liked this! I'm back home with my parents so hopefully, I should update soon since I have more time</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Two updates? In one night? It's more likely than you think. Also, Beth ain't doing too well</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger warnings for Blood and slight<br/>Discussion of suicide<br/>Discussion violence<br/>Discussion of mental instability. </p><p>Let me know if I left anything out.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Annie and Ruby weren’t answering her calls. Rio seemingly had her number blocked and Dean had told her not to bother calling unless she was done for good with the gang shit. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But how could she be done when she was just as broke as when she started and when that venomous little snake was walking around alive, whispering lies into the ears of one of her children.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The house was empty. So, so empty. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Where have all the flower’s gone, gone gone, gone, gone?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth didn’t understand why the hitman had not killed Rio. He has one job as a hitman and a relatively simple one at that. But still, Rio lived and still, she was alone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Why is this happening to me, Beth thought.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Because you wouldn’t get your hands dirty, </span>
  </em>
  <span>a treacherous voice answered. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That voice. It sounded like Rio, it sounded like her, it sounded like everyone in between. The only thing that drowned it out before was bourbon but it sounded like it spoke to her from underwater persistent and vindictive. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She needed to find out why he was still alive. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Quickly attempting to look put together, Beth showered and dressed, hoping the stench of hard liquor didn’t hang about her. She washed her hands for the tenth time that morning. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Come out damned spot, I command you!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Why did she feel so dirty?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She got into her car, feeling sober enough to drive but not sober enough to hear the voices that clanged and battled inside her own head. Not so sober that the static threatened to overwhelm her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She went to the address listed on the business card belonging to James Fitzpatrick but the man who spoke strangely and only ate a single bite of each food group refused to see her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Instead, the girl who worked at the counter handed her an abnormally long invoice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>$11,000 in incidentals. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Static, blood, flowers, water, slip...knot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Feel the ground sliding from under you, you, you, you.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth’s hand clutched the steering wheel of her minivan, her hands trembling as she held onto the reality that she couldn’t even pay someone to kill a man properly. Why wouldn’t he just die, die, die, die, die?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth was wrenched out of her thoughts when she saw the strange hitman emerge from the business that hid his true business of blood and steel. He was carrying a cello case seemingly not a care in the world.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So Beth followed him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He went about seemingly innocuous tasks and Beth was sure that there was some kind of firearm in the cello case. She followed him closely in her car waiting for the strange man to open the case and rain carnage upon some poor unsuspecting fool, all the while the static was building in Beth’s head and the chatter in her mind more frantic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She eventually pulled to a stop at a school.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No. no, no.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Feeeelll thee grouunnnddd sliiiide…</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But the man just handed what appeared to be an actual cello to a little girl. His daughter?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her attempts at parsing through the situation in order to conjure some kind of answer were interrupted by a knock at her car window and Beth jumped slightly in her seat before rolling her window down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t know your daughter went here,” Beth said shakily in a feeble attempt at nonchalance. “It’s got a great music program.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mrs Boland,” he said cordially, his thin lips stretched into a tight smile. A small pistol was clasped in his hand “Why are you following me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um,” Beth croaked. “Just curious...about the state of our lawsuit?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not moving forward,” Mr Fitzpatrick said primly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I already paid for it,” Beth spat. “And you billed me for more.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you refer to article 3A in the contract you signed, I have the right to terminate due to breach,” he informed her placidly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How did I breach?” Beth asked incredulously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Failure to disclose the nature of your relationship with the target,” he said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What does that mean?” Beth asked indignantly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You or one of your friends engaged in flagrante delicto with the target,” he said thin lips quirking slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Excuse me?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“One of you boned him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why does it matter?” Beth asked in exasperation, almost shouting over the din in her head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t do jilted lovers,” the man shrugged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No one, </span>
  <em>
    <span>no one, </span>
  </em>
  <span>was jilted,” Beth said emphatically, her breath coming in pants. “So this is where you draw your line?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Crimes of passion get messy,” the man retorted, sounding almost remorseful. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I’m not paying for all the incidentals and spray tans and OT-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t want this going to Collections,” the man said warningly, pulling out his phone to show Beth a photo.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Blood, slipknot, drowned wailing.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth wanted to be sick.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s a nasty process,” Mr Fitzpatrick said with a slight wince. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have a question,” Beth croaked, choking down bile. “What does </span>
  <em>
    <span>omakase </span>
  </em>
  <span>have to do with it? It was on the invoice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Means entrusting yourself to the chef,” the hitman said. “Typically off-menu, locally-driven, sushi-grade-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I mean, how does it help with killing a man?” Beth asked quietly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your lover enjoys a two-hour omakase lunch every Friday, Never misses,” the man informed her. “After, he goes out into the parking lot and has a chat with the chef. That’s an opportunity. He then does business with people who would make my work...difficult. Not an opportunity.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His voice joined the multitude in Beth’s head. Each vying for attention.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“On Tuesdays,” he continued. “He plays tennis at a very posh country club. You’ll see the charge for the valet in the invoice packet. He does shower after in an unattended locker room. That’s another opportunity and you see where I’m going with this. I didn’t go into all the details because then I would have to charge you for the time that it took to explain them.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So what now?” Beth asked, head spinning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He has a son and who appears to be a wife,” the man said fixing Beth with a cold, piercing stare. “I’m not going to kill him. But you will pay me what I’m owed, Mrs Boland.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth couldn’t believe this. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Remember, you don’t want it to go to Collections,” the man intoned before he left as silently as he came. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fine. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth would do it herself. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Let me know what you think :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Chapter 20</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Things are getting real...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s all fine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The baby was at Lucy’s and Christopher had made himself scarce at her orders. He was probably skulking nearby worrying himself sick. Idiot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The plan was in motion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was late in the afternoon, the sky starting to streak with vibrant oranges and lilacs. She braced herself and entered the lobby of the police station and immediately felt like an interloper. She didn’t trust cops. Never had. But that was a symptom of being an over-radicalized art student. The words ‘institution’ and ‘establishment’ almost made her break out in hives. But there she was, in the pigsty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d play nice though. For now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The place was busy, people milling around in a flurry, phones ringing, and the paper’s shuffling frantically. They almost seemed like reasonable people.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Excuse me,” she said demurely stepping up to the reception desk. “I’d like to, uh, report something?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure thing, sweetie,” the uniformed woman said, sliding a form over to her. “Just fill this out for me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, um, it’s not about me,” she said haltingly. “I think a friend of mine is doing something illegal. Who do I- Who do I talk to about money laundering?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This gave the woman pause and she raised a sceptical eyebrow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your friend is involved in money laundering?” the woman asked in disbelief. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know it sounds crazy but she has a bunch of weird chemicals and nail polish and-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you say nail polish,” a thin, suited woman piped up from behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bingo. Just the woman she was looking for.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Y-yeah,” she stuttered. “I know it sounds weird but, can I just talk to someone in the money laundering division or something? I can ex-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Agent Phoebe Donnegan,” the woman said extending a slim hand to her. “I think I’m exactly who you’re looking for.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was led to Agent Donnegan’s desk and was sat down, a cup of coffee immediately thrust into her face. It smelt burnt so she politely declined. Couldn’t leave any prints behind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So,” Agent Donnean said leaning back in her office chair. “Tell me about your friend.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Her name is Beth,” she started, wringing her hands. “Beth Boland. She has five kids and she’s married but Dean took the kids to his mom’s because of this whole-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry to interrupt but I mean tell me about what you think she’s doing,” Agent Donnegan said somewhat rudely. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hm. Couldn’t expect less from a pig she supposed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was at her house the other day, I don’t really remember when, but it was recently,” she said leaning forward conspiratorially, her brow furrowed in distress. “I was helping her do some laundry when I found it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Found what?” Agent Donnegan asked with a smirk but she knew that the Agent was desperate to know. She’d been on Beth’s trail for months. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d know. She’s the one who laid the trail.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nail polish. At least a hundred bottles,” she said incredulously. “Now, I thought it was weird but it doesn’t mean she’s breaking the law right? But behind the washing machine were these metal plates. They looked like they had, like, dollar bill designs carved into them or something.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What else?” the agent asked with barely concealed excitement. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Beth works at this shop, the Paper Porcupine,” she continued. “They have this really old printer that needs metal plate thingies like the one I found. I think she’s printing money and got in with some bad people!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why would she do that?” Agent Donnegan asked, scribbling something down on a notepad. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Her husband cheated on her and that’s how she found out that they were in some serious debts,” she sighed. “He maxed out their credit cards on lingerie for his secretary.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Holy shit,” Agent Donnegan swore, wrinkling her nose in disgust. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think she needed cash quick so she started printing her own,” she said slumping in her seat. “God, Beth…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you telling us now?” Agent Donnegan asked eyes narrowing slightly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She ran a hand through her braids and shrugged. “She’s acting weird. Paranoid and distrustful. Jumping at every noise and talking to herself. I tried to get her to stop but she won’t listen.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You did the right thing,” Agent Donnegan said curtly. “If she’s unstable, then we can bring her in and get her some help.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think so?” she asked quietly, eyes watering slightly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know so,” Agent Donnegan smirked. “I just need a warrant for your friend and to search the, uh, Paper Porcupine, and this should all be a bad memory.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you so much, Agent,” she said, choking out a sob. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gave the agent Beth’s address as well as hers and her phone number before stepping out of the station, their cold and brisk after the warm, burnt coffee atmosphere of the station. She breathed it in for a second before getting in her car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And the Oscar goes to...</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The drive home was long and quiet. She missed her baby and she missed Christopher but they couldn’t be together until the coast was clear. She looked into her rearview mirror and saw a black sedan following her at a sedate pace, Mick waving two fingers at her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of course. She chuckled slightly to herself and waved back at him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She had sent Christopher a text saying that she was on her way home and she assumed he was probably back there already. But for some reason, the closer that she got to home the further that her heart dropped. The sky was steadily darkening and the shadows grew long and imposing in the twilight, as though they’d get up and start walking through the dark. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just as she pulled into her driveway it was nighttime and her phone rang. Agent Donnegan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello?” she answered, the fear in her voice genuine. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’re at Beth’s house,” Agent Donnegan said curtly. “We found the nail polish and plates and our agents are at the Paper Porcupine. They found more polish and supplies and shredded money.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s great then, right?” she said shakily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Agent Donnega said before swearing quietly. “We can’t find your friend though.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” she choked out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The house is empty! All the furniture is gone and there’s no sign of Beth,” Donnegan said heatedly. “Did she know that you were coming to see me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, no! I mean, I don’t think so. She-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just then the front door of the house opened but it wasn’t Christopher that stepped out of the house. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello? What’s going on?” Donnegan barked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth’s here,” she choked out. “She’s at my house.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And she had a gun.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yell at me in the comments over the cliffhanger ;)<br/>Let me know what you think :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Chapter 21</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Oof<br/>Trigger warning for those of you with sensitive constitutions. Proceed with caution. Love u</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>“She has a gun,” she croaked to Agent Donnegan. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth stood placidly in the doorway, her hands hanging limply at her sides. In one hand, she had a pistol, in the other an almost empty bottle of bourbon. Beth looked terrible. She had thrown a trench coat over some pyjamas and her eyes were red-rimmed and they looked almost bruised. What had happened to her? Beth gestured with the gun for her to come inside. The gesture looked almost casual if it weren’t for the obvious threat. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” Agent Donnegan said incredulously. “What’s she doing?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing,” she said dumbly. “Just standing in my doorway. She wants me to go inside.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Agent Donnegan swore and barked some orders to someone far off. Beth gestured to her again. She saw Mick look at her from out his window, waiting for some kind of signal. She told him to stand down for now. She didn’t want Beth to do anything rash if Mick charged at her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, listen to me,” Agent Donnegan ordered. “I need you to cooperate with her. We should be at your house in the next 20 minutes. Give or take.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cooperate.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do what she says?” she asked sceptically. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, just try and buy some time,” Agent Donnegan said, trying to seem self-assured but her voice trembled. “I promise I’ll get to you as soon as I can.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“O-okay,” she agreed. “I’m gonna hang up now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She tentatively got of the car and walked up the driveway onto the porch, coming to an almost mechanical stop in front of Beth. Up close, Beth looked even worse. She was pallid and her lips were chapped, the smell of hard liquor hung heavy around her and her pupils were pinpricks. She almost wondered if Beth could even see her in front of her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Come on in,” Beth said cheerily with a lopsided smile, waving her into the house like it was Beth’s. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She stepped haltingly into the dimly lit living room, a single lamp illuminating the room that suddenly felt too big and too dark. Christopher stood in the middle of the room, his clothes haphazardly thrown on and his hair still damp. Beth must have caught him just as he got out the shower. She heaved a sigh of relief at the fact that he was still alive. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now we’re all together,” Beth said happily, clasping her hands around her gun with barely concealed joy. Beth looked like she’d crack at the slightest provocation, porcelain tipping over the edge.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you want Beth?” she asked quietly standing tensely between Christopher and Beth. It was like some weird mockery of a duel, Beth and Christopher standing across from each other while she was off to the side in the middle of it all like a referee, there to make sure that one of them would be struck down honourably. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I need you,” she said from between gritted teeth, tilting her chin up defiantly at Christopher, eyes wide and glassy. “I </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>you to see me kill him. I want you to know why I did it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why Beth?” she asked trying to get Beth talking. “I love him-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No!” Beth shouted. “You’re just...you’re just a baby. You don’t know what love is. You don’t know that he is a </span>
  <em>
    <span>snake</span>
  </em>
  <span>!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s not a snake, Beth,” she said calmly holding a hand up to calm Christopher who looked just about ready to charge Beth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, no, no, no,” Beth murmured, hitting her head lightly with the heel of her wrist, the gun rattling with each impact. “I hear him...I </span>
  <em>
    <span>hear </span>
  </em>
  <span>him. All the time. Hissing in my head. Hissing about money and blood and kings.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Beth you’re sick, honey,” she said gently, holding her hands up in front of Beth, it was almost like trying to calm a spooked wild animal. “Put the gun down.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The gun?” Beth asked with curiosity like she hadn’t realised that she was still holding it. “So this is what he feels like. Turning tables, turn tabled, turning, and turning…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth, you don’t have to do this,” she pled. She tried to step towards Beth but Beth suddenly had the gun pointed at her, freezing her in her tracks. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I do,” Beth said with frightening clarity. “I won’t have any more of my children taken from me. No more…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth, sweetie,” she said shakily. “I’m not a child. I’m a grown woman and I can make my own choices.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He told you to say that, didn’t he?” Beth asked angrily, shaking the gun towards him. “He’s been hissing in your head too.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No. no, he hasn’t-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But don’t worry,” Beth continued, closing her eyes and nodding resolutely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth, please-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mama’s gonna make it all go away,” she said still nodding. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Suddenly Beth shifted on her feet to face Christopher, her eyes glinting with hate and steel. And then, with a slight exhale and a crooked smile, she pulled the trigger. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“NO!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everything moved so slowly at that moment. It was like time had slowed down just for her to see the path that the bullet was carving through the air to Christopher’s chest, right through his heart. The bang of the gun had chased the air out of the room and out of her lungs, she felt frozen. But she wasn’t frozen. She was moving faster and more thoughtlessly than she had ever moved.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth would not take him from her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And so, she stepped in front of Christopher. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s not the way it is in movies. Guns are loud, really loud. And then there’s the muzzle flash. The flash must be what people talk about when they talk about a light at the end of the tunnel. And in the movies, when people get shot, they drop like stones, like puppets with their strings cut never to get up again and rejoin the pantomime. No, the bullet, fierce, hot, and speedy, </span>
  <em>
    <span>blows you away. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The bullet zipped through the flesh of where her chest met her shoulder like a hot knife, burrowing deeper into a mess of bones, veins and muscle, blowing her backwards ever so slightly, slow motion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Feel the ground slip from under you. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She heard a second bang and another pain lanced through her abdomen. Beth had shot her again. They were probably consecutive in Beth’s maddened rage but it didn’t feel that way. The shots felt like they were years apart, pain upon pain, echoing through the slow vacuum of time. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She fell back onto the carpet and she felt like the ground had risen up to meet her but her mind was so far from the moment that she barely felt it, her mind on the steel that had burrowed into her body. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She heard Beth’s voice tremble and something metal clattered to the floor. Beth gave several little choked of yelps as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just done. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Baby?” Christopher said, his voice small and afraid and she reached a hand out to him as he knelt beside her. “I need to, I need to-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You need,” she gasped, her body twitching with pain. “You n-need to go. The cops are come-coming.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t leave you like this!” Christopher wept, his teeth gritted. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be,” she gasped, back arching as she coughed up blood. Sirens sounded outside, “I’ll be okay. G-go.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher hesitated, looking out the windows that were flooded with the flashing glow of blue and red police car lights. She let go of his hand pushing it away with as much strength as she could muster. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Go!” she gasped, her words garbled through the blood. “I l-love you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you so fucking much,” he whispered, kissing her forehead and slinking quickly out of the back door. Hopefully, he’d find Mick outside. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My baby,” Beth wept, kneeling down next to her, placing trembling hands over the wound in her abdomen. “What have I done? What have I done?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth,” she gasped, reaching for Beth’s hand which Beth clasped in her own, now bloody hands. “I-I’m so sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, the front door was kicked open with a shout, and whatever Beth said was lost in the commotion and just as quickly darkness crept into her vision and she was out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Christopher. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Cassian.</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Last chapter and an epilogue tomorrow, I promise :)<br/>Love you all and thanks so much for reading &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Chapter 22</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sunlight by Hozier is the general vibe of this chapter so good vibes in this one ;)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>It was like being underwater. No, it was like wading through syrup, viscous and overwhelming, too dense for her to break the surface. So she stayed suspended in some kind of limbo, feeling like she was still being blown back by a bullet, the floor refusing to rise to meet her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was dark. Beth’s sobs echoed through the darkness before suddenly being overwhelmed by shouting. So much yelling...like barking dogs at midnight when the ghosts come out. Then she was being lifted up, pain lancing through her body. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Flashing lights, frantic chatter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then more darkness. Below the surface again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She did not dream. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Am I dead?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A baby’s babble and laughter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Cassian. My baby. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A rough voice, rumbling in the distance. Speaking. Speaking to who? To her?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Christopher.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She wanted so badly to open her eyes, open her mouth and let them know she was still there. Still listening, still waiting. Still alive. But it was like her veins had been pumped full of lead. Dense and poisonous, slowing her mind down and suspending her body in time. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was the ultimate Kill Bill moment. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Wiggle your big toe. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t even open her eyes, let alone wiggle a toe. She couldn’t even huff in frustration. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So she stayed in limbo, waning in and out of darkness and awareness. Coming close to the surface but being dragged deeper just as soon as the light was in reach.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But then it was like sunlight after a thunderstorm. It was like sunlight was filling her body, starting in her toes and slowly creeping up her body. She felt like she was shaking ice out of her, finally able to swim up, up, up...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She heard a voice again, his voice. Christopher. Talking steadily his words still not discernible to her weary mind. She just needed to swim a little further…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Your songs remind me of swimming. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So please,” Christopher said before she couldn’t hear him again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So close.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I need you to-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Wiggle your big toe. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And so, she broke the surface. Breathing in the light.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I miss you so much baby,” he said hoarsely. “Please wake up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She blinked her eyes open blearily taking in the bright sterile environment of the hospital, an EKG monitor beeping steadily in the background, and sitting at her right side, Christopher, his eyes red-rimmed and tired. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She squeezed his hand weakly, her throat too fry and scratchy to speak. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Baby?” he asked in alarm, his voice cracking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She squeezed his hand again, attempting a smile even though she was so, so tired. Her body was sore and weary. She felt like too little butter spread over too much bread. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Holy shit,” he breathed. “Oh, fuck, I should probably call a nurse? Yeah. I-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She would’ve laughed if she had the energy but she was too goddamn tired and too goddamn happy to do anything besides smile and hold his hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Christopher pressed a button to call a nurse who promptly materialised to check her vitals and her wounds. The nurse established that she wasn’t, in fact, a reanimated corpse and promised to check back in soon and bring her something to eat. Soon, it was just her and Christopher.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She looked at him properly and saw that he hadn’t shaved in what appeared to be a few days and hadn’t slept either judging by the shadows under his eyes. He probably hadn’t been taking care of himself for however long she’d been out. The goof. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m okay,” she whispered reassuringly, trying to break the silence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You almost weren’t,” he said flatly, leaning his chin against his palm. He looked despondently into the middle distance, probably replaying that night over again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But I’m okay now,” she pressed. “And so are you. And that’s what’s important.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I should have taken those bullets, not you,” he said guilty, putting a hand over his eyes in shame.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t want you to,” she said simply. “Not again. And I’d do it again if it meant you’d be okay”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He fixed her with a tearful stare and she saw in his face all of the fear and uncertainty that he had been through. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re too good for me,” he mumbled, shaking his head and looking down. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know,” she smiled and he let out a chuckle despite himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How long was I out?” she asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just over three days,” he sighed. “They had you in surgery a couple of times but you pushed through like a champ.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I am a badass after all,” she said closing her eyes with a smile. She could feel the two surgeries beneath the morphine no doubt running through her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” he huffed. “Yeah, you are.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where’s Cassian? You’ve been taking care of him right?” she asked worriedly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” he said reassuringly. “I spend the mornings and evenings with him but I leave him with either Lucy or Rhea in the afternoons. He came to see you a couple of times.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Have you been taking care of yourself?” she asked sceptically. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked away wanly at the question, rubbing the back of his neck guiltily. He shrugged and mumbled something indiscernible.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When was the last time you slept, Christopher?” she asked knowingly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He shrugged again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You look like shit,” she remarked and he touched his chest in mock offence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” he protested.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s true and you know it,” she smiled before patting the hospital bed. “Get up here, let’s take a nap.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know if that’s allowed,” he said uncertainly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She raised an eyebrow at him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Right,” he said sheepishly. “Gang leader and whatnot, fuck the rules, yadda yadda yadda.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Precisely,” she sighed, already feeling what little energy she had dissipating.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t wanna hurt you though,” he protested. “I might loosen your stitches or-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ll just have to be very careful, now won’t we?” she said, smiling sleepily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher sighed, recognizing defeat before carefully and gingerly situating himself on the narrow hospital bed, putting an arm around her shoulders. He was so warm, her sunlight. She nuzzled against him and already felt the cloying arms of sleep embracing her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sleep, baby girl,” Christopher mumbled, placing a kiss atop her head. “I’mma be right here when you wake up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh, your love is sunlight. </span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm a little late in uploading this but here you go! I do hope you enjoyed that! Probably gonna post an epilogue tomorrow afternoon or evening after I get my hair done and then I'm gonna have to say goodbye  :,(<br/>Let me know what you think &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Chapter 23</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Talks with Beth...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The room was cosy if a little sparse. The carpet was soft and plush underfoot, the soft lighting supplemented by the midday sunlight. There were tables spread around the room, some empty, others occupied by patients chatting amongst themselves, reading, or having hushed conversations with loved ones. It was a warm place full of people who were just trying t get better and the orderlies seemed invested in the wellbeing of the patients. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting from the psychiatric hospital but she was glad that Beth was in a place like it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beth was seated at a table in a back corner in soft pyjamas, her hands clasped tightly on the table, the orderly behind her laying a hand on her back gently and whispering to her, pointing in her direction. She waved tentatively at Beth, the movement agitating her left arm, still in a sling. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She had been unsure about going to see Beth, wanting desperately to make sure she was okay but not sure how that would impact her mentally or how it would make Beth feel. Would it make her feel worse? When she saw Beth would she only see her firing at her?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Christopher was vehemently against the idea. Unsurprisingly. He would barely let her out of bed let alone let her go see the woman that very nearly ended her life. But he caved eventually because he could never say no to her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was furious at first. She was terrified even. She remembered how out of it Beth had been and the blood lust that hung heavy about her with the scent of bourbon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But despite everything, she needed to see Beth. Make sure that she was cared for, make sure that she knew that she wasn’t mad. Well, not anymore. She knew that Beth wasn’t thinking straight and that she wasn’t well. She needed Beth to know that she was okay. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Because Beth was a mom and moms worried.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So she made some calls, made sure that it was the right call to visit Beth and made sure that there weren’t any legal ramifications or whatever. She was just glad that Beth wasn’t in prison. That was the last thing Beth needed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Beth saw her in the entrance to the day room she stood up shakily, the orderly behind her offering a steady hand. She couldn’t help the tears that came to her eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It had been about a couple of months since the incident. She didn’t know how she’d feel when she saw Beth but hugging a somewhat frail Beth at that moment? She was weirdly relieved. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She felt forgiveness. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re okay, you’re okay,” Beth mumbled into her shoulder, trembling slightly. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth,” she said firmly, her arm tight around Beth. “I forgive you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth burst into tears then, her tears soaking her shirt but she couldn’t bring herself to care, instead of rubbing comforting circles somewhat awkwardly into Beth’s back with her available hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They sat down, hands clasped just looked at each other, one taking the other in. The moment was almost intimate if not for the other people in the room and the orderly that was trying very hard not to seem like they were looming. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How are you, Bethy?” she asked squeezing Beth’s hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Better, uh, yeah better,” Beth answered with a shaky smile. “Dean and the kids came to see me the other day.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How are things with you and Dean?” she asked attempting to sound casual. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not great,” Beth sighed. “But he’s back home now with the kids. I think he’s slowly starting to wrap his head around the fact that I wasn’t...that I’m sick.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad he’s still here for you, though,” she said earnestly. “Have Annie and Ruby come?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, they come here every other day,” Beth said chuckling slightly. “They’re kinda driving me crazy. Well. Crazier.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t talk like that,” she chided gently. “You’re not crazy. You’re sick. Everyone is prone to getting sick, and that includes mental illness.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“God, you sound like these guys,” Beth half-smiled, tilting her head towards the orderly who smiled shyly. “You’re all right, of course. Doesn’t make it any less annoying.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I do have my flashes of genius,” she laughed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They were quiet for a beat, enjoying the levity of the moment but she had to ask.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So,” she said with a smile. “Tell me about everything. Are they feeding you? You’ve lost some weight.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth snorted. “The food here isn’t exactly Michelin starred but yeah, they’re feeding me. I go to group therapy and I have individual sessions.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And how’s that going?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, it turns out I have a lot of ingrained issues that brought me to where I am today,” Beth said wryly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t we all?” she laughed. “But seriously. Are they helping you? Do I need to go full Karen on these people?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, god, please don’t,” Beth said running a hand through her hair. Her bangs had grown out. Right. No sharp things. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re definitely helping but I know I have some ways to go,” Beth confessed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad,” she said, feeling better than she had in a while. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“H-how,” Beth started shakily, clearing her throat, her eyes on her sling. “How are you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her first instinct was to wave off Beth’s obvious concern but she knew it would be counterproductive to be anything besides honest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m better,” she started. “This is the most I’ve been about in a while. Chris goes crazy when I so much as even look at the front door so I’ve been resting up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She realised belatedly that she maybe shouldn’t mention Christopher but Beth seemed to read her mind and waved a hand dismissively with a tight smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve been going to physiotherapy,” she continued. “For my arm and to restrengthen my core. I’m...I’m still in some pain but my doctor says I’m making progress.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” Beth said quietly, her eyes watering again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All is forgiven,” she smiled. “It’s time you forgive yourself too. Onward and upward, I say.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Excelsior,” Beth chuckled, smiling softly. “You used to say that all the time. I looked it up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Excelsior,” she said letting out a surprised laugh. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So what’s next for you, uh, for you three?” Beth asked awkwardly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s what I wanted to tell you,” she started carefully. “After I’m fully healed and Cass is a little older, we’re probably gonna leave.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Leave?” Beth asked in alarm. “And go where?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’re torn between Andorra, Botswana, Morrocco, and Taiwan,” she chuckled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why those countries?” Beth asked, nose scrunched in confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She levelled Beth with a meaningful stare. <em>Extradition, duh.</em></span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Beth,” the orderly quietly interrupted. “It’s time for your individual session.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My therapist says I was stifling you and that a good mom helps their baby fly out of the nest or whatever. I know I’m not your mom but,” Beth said before leaning forward to whisper in her ear. “I hear Samoa is lovely all year round too.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beth hugged her quickly before almost skipping away with a wink and a wave</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Huh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Therapy really is for everybody.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope I didn't misrepresent the experience of being in a psychiatric hospital. I tried to do my research and make it clear that there's nothing wrong with reaching out and getting help. Therapy is for everyone. Talk to somebody if you need to and know that you are loved &lt;3<br/>I hope you liked that! I'm gonna post the epilogue tomorrow morning hopefully. <br/>I literally had to google countries that don't have extradition treaties with the US lmaooo. Which country do you think they're gonna go for? ;)<br/>We're really coming to the end of the line :(</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>And that's all folks :)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><br/>Andorra was nice. A sort of hidden gem nestled between Spain and France with vast blue skies and rolling mountains. It was beautiful. It was the kind of idyllic place that people dream of starting a family in. </p><p>It reminded her a lot of Howl’s Moving Castle and she couldn’t wait for the summer to come so that she could take Marcus and Cassian out. There were a few bakeries that she knew he’d love and Rhea was gonna come with him again around Christmas so they could all go skiing. </p><p>She hadn’t been too sure about leaving at first. She knew that she didn’t want Christopher to carry on with the guns and the blood and the violence but she didn’t want to back him into a corner either especially since leaving would mean leaving Marcus behind. </p><p>Surprisingly Christopher was pretty enthusiastic about it, wanting to put as much distance between them and Beth as humanly possible. He wasn’t wholly unsympathetic to Beth’s plight but he had been struggling to shake the paranoia that Beth would kill her for real the second time around. </p><p>She kept doing physio, working through the pain and the scar tissue and they both started seeing therapists but after a lot of deliberation they decided a change of scenery was probably best. Christopher abdicated his throne to Mick who graciously accepted, Christopher acting as a remote figurehead, pulling the strings from behind the scenes but being largely uninvolved. He’d just get a cut at the end of the day as always. It was a compromise she supposed.</p><p>So with a lot more money than she had any idea Christopher had, they left, promising to see Marcus over summer and winter break. </p><p>It was terrifying. <br/>Despite not having much regard for things like governments, laws, and borders, there was something about fleeing the country under an assumed identity that made her hackles rise. Christopher was perfectly fine and she assumed that he had probably had to go underground before so it was probably like a trip to the grocery store for him. She took solace in the fact that they were together.</p><p>So they became Mr and Mrs Torres. Mr Enzo Torres having just opened a middling department store that flourished in the shopping hub that was Andorra la Vella, and Mrs Aina Torres a sweet unassuming housewife. They had a small wedding in an Andorran chapel because Christopher couldn’t bear to forge their marriage certificate. Softie.</p><p>The transition was smooth enough to make her suspicious. The capital had enough people to not attract too much attention besides the odd stare here and there when they were out as a family. It started to feel a lot like home. </p><p>She missed her friends. She missed Lucy and Ismael. She missed Beth. Annie and Ruby were still sore about having their lives threatened and she couldn’t blame them. She missed them all the same. She tried to call wherever possible and Lucy and Ismael promised to visit them soon. </p><p>They had a beautiful terraced house just outside the capital with a large yard that Cassian took his first tentative steps in. The garden had been beautifully landscaped but she found herself developing a green thumb, adding chrysanthemums, black-eyed- Susans, and hydrangeas to the lush greenery around her home. And of course, peonies. </p><p>They were beautiful but lord almighty, did they make her allergies act up. </p><p>The cherry on top would’ve been a dog but that would be pushing it with her allergies and would be a tad bit cliche.</p><p>It was too perfect. </p><p>“Are you happy?” she asked Christopher one night cuddled up on the couch. The only light in the room from the crackling fireplace.</p><p>“Yeah,” he said without hesitation. “If I was any happier I’d burst. Are you?”</p><p>“It scares me,” she whispered.</p><p>“What scares you?”</p><p>“I’m scared that it’s just the calm before the storm, the wedding song before the funeral dirge, y’ know” she sighed. </p><p>“Did you ever think that maybe we deserve this after all the drama?” he asked bemusedly. </p><p>“No,” she chuckled wryly. “I didn’t.”</p><p>“I don’t really scare easy but,” he started, his voice thick with suppressed tears. “But when I saw you go down after Beth shot you...I was terrified. You were falling and your eyes had rolled back...I thought you were dead. And I knew that if you died, I’d probably follow you soon.”</p><p>“Don’t talk like that,” she chided softly. “Cass and Marcus need you.”</p><p>“It’s true though,” he sighed. “You once read me this one poem or whatever and I think about it every single fuckin’ day.”</p><p>“Which one?” she asked in confusion. She told him lots of things.</p><p>“They asked “do you love her to death?” he said. “I said, “speak of her over my grave and watch how she brings me back to life.”</p><p>“Christopher,” she said, eyes filling with tears, sitting up to look at him.</p><p>“You deserve all this and more,” he said cradling her face in his hand. “Because you are all and more.”</p><p>“So are you,” she whispered, kissing him soundly. </p><p>And they had to trust that. They had to trust that fate had brought them this far and would take them further. </p><p>Beyond life. Beyond death.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And so it ends. I just wanna thank you all so much for reading. Your comments have been sweet, encouraging, and constructive. You guys made this happen and I'm immeasurably grateful for each of you. Love y'all &lt;3<br/>The poem is by Mahmoud Darwish and it's one of my favourites btw ;)</p><p>I might do a sequel to Sleeping on the Blacktop but I'm gonna take a break and see if that pans out. I'll keep you posted. Until then, stay safe and healthy, loves!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you enjoyed that! I always love hearing from you guys so please let me know what you thought.<br/>Stay safe, everybody :)</p><p>Also, just in case it wasn't obvious, I highly recommend reading Part 1 for this to make sense if you're new here. Welcome to the chaos.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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